The Oddernes stone (''Oddernessteinen'') is a

rune stone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th century and lasted int ...

from

Oddernes Church Oddernes Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Kristiansand Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the district of Lund in the borough of Lund in the city of Kristiansand. It is one of the churches for the Oddern ...

Oddernes Oddernes is a List of boroughs of Kristiansand, borough in the Kristiansand (town), city of Kristiansand which lies in the municipality of Kristiansand in Agder county, Norway. The borough covers eastern Kristiansand on the east side of the Topda ...

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total popul ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The stone was originally just in the church yard east of the church. In 1990 it was moved into the

church porch A church porch is a room-like structure at a church's main entrance. A porch protects from the weather to some extent. Some porches have an outer door, others a simple gate, and in some cases the outer opening is not closed in any way. The porch ...

History

Oddernes stone was described in 1639 when the site was visited by Tomas Cortsen Wegner (1588-1654),

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the

Diocese of Stavanger The Diocese of Stavanger () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Lise Ådnøy, who has held the p ...

. He had been commissioned by

Ole Worm Ole Worm (13 May 1588 – 31 August 1654), who often went by the Latinized form of his name Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen where he taught Greek, Latin ...

to provide inscriptions from rune stones located from within his diocese. Bishop Wegner gave a description of the stone with a drawing of the two inscriptions. Ole Worm was a Danish

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

who wrote a number of treatises on rune stones. He was at this time preparing his great work
''Monumenta Danica.''
which was first published during 1643. Both inscriptions are written with the younger

runes Runes are the Letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see ''#Futharks, futhark'' vs ''#Runic alphabets, runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were ...

and they are approx. dated to year 1030 and to 1040.

Inscriptions

Inscription from 1030

The first inscription (N209) is carved on one flat side of the stone, and is almost indistinguishable. It can be read (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

into

Latin letters The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

): ....ur- (n)iriþs, , sun is, , st(a)in sa This is interpreted as "... Neriðs son er steinn sá". In modern English: "After (NN) Neriðs' son is this stone," or "In memory of Tore Neridsson is this stone."

Inscription from 1040

The second inscription on the narrow side of the stone (N210) is much longer and is much more startling: :aʀintr × karþi × kirkiu × þesa × kosunr × olafs × hins × hala × a oþali × sinu Worm interpreted parts of this text, namely ''Olaf hins hala'' as "Olaf the saint" (

St Olaf Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the ti ...

), and this is reproduced in ''Monumenta Danica.''.

Subsequent interpretations

In 1805, Danish antiquarian and runologist

Martin Friedrich Arendt Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * Mart� ...

(1769-1823) documented a number of rune inscriptions and other memorials in southern Norway. At Oddernes he gave a complete reading of the text: ''Eyvind gerði kirkiu þessa, guðsonr Olafs hin helga, à oðali sinu''; modern English: "Eivind made this church, godson of St. Olaf, on his

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

". This interpretation has been accepted by a number of authorities including

Sophus Bugge Elseus Sophus Bugge (5 January 1833 – 8 July 1907) was a Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scholarly work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runi ...

and

Magnus Olsen Magnus Bernhard Olsen (28 November 1878 – 16 January 1963) was a Norwegian philologist who specialized in Old Norse studies. Born and raised in Arendal, Olsen received his degrees in philology at Royal Frederick University in Kristiania, ...

. however others have interpreted the word ''hala'' differently, and believe it may have a ''different meaning than holy or saint''. This would override the impression that St. Olaf had actually been present here. As a consequence, the interpretation of this inscription remains debatable.Frans-Arne Stylega
"Oddernessteinen"
at

Store norske leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' (, abbreviated ''SNL'') is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. It has several subdivisions, including the Norsk biografisk leksikon. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian publishe ...

References

Other sources

*Spurkland, Terje (2005) ''Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions'' (Boydell & Brewer)