Are you ready for some more runic inscriptions?

As I have already mentioned, we have a ton of runic inscriptions form Trondheim, Bergen, Oslo and Tønsberg. The runic inscriptions found in the ground of these cities, are mostly from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, and they are referred to as ‘the city runes’. Most of the city rune inscriptions are everyday scribbles, short messages, sales agreements, prayers or name tags to show ownership of objects. Sometimes they are even humorous or dirty inscription. The inscriptions were often carved into wooden sticks, on wooden objects such as for example combs or children’s toys, but they can also be found on pieces of bones or even metal.

There are of course a lot of runic inscriptions from before the Medieval period here in Norway too. We have many from the Viking age and even earlier, but this time I’ve chose to write about some of the city runes.

Around the transition between Viking age and the Medieval period, and through the early Medieval period, it seems that being able to write runes became more and more common. The city runes for example seems to be written by ordinary people instead of professional writers as we see more often from the Viking age. Ordinary people was now also learning the art of writing and reading. As they would write their short messages, prayers or make a receipt of a purchase, they would leave interesting insights into their everyday lives.

One type of runic inscriptions that we find, is the fuþork inscriptions. These types of inscriptions recites the runic alphabet. Sometimes we even find the Latin alphabet written with runes.

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T11208 / N 463:
I am not sure where this runic inscription was found, other than that it is from Trondheim. The dating only says only ‘the Medieval period’. The runes are carved into a piece of wood. They start out very clear and visible, but then they become harder to read towards the narrower part. Yet they are easy to see and read.

ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚮ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚿ ᛁ ᛆ ᛌ ᛐ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ
fuþork hnias tbml-
fuþork hnias tbmly

There is one more rune after the L rune. The last rune is just a rod without twigs, which may indicate that the inscription is not complete. In any case, there should be no i-rune last in the runic alphabet.

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N76464 / N A244:
This runic inscription was found at Folkebibliotekstomta in Tronheim. It has been dated to the years between 1225-1275. The runes are carved into a piece of wood. The piece has split into three parts, but it was possible to put them back together. The runes start out clear and visible, but then they become harder to read towards the right because of some discoloration. Yet they are easy to see and read.

ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚿ ᛁ ᛆ ᛌ ᛐ ᛘ ᛚ ᛣ
f u þ o r k h n i a s t m l y
f u þ o r k h n i a s t m l y

The B rune is forgotten or left out for some reason, and the A rune is a bit strange. It looks like a mirrored K rune kind of. The twig is pointing upwards instead of down as seen in the text. I couldn’t actually find the runic symbol matching the way it is actually written on the stick. Except from this, this is a pretty straight forward fuþork inscription.

A full analysis of the inscription done by Jan Ragnar Hagland can be found in Norwegian here.

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N21447 / N A126:
The inscription was found at Folkebibliotekstomta in Tronheim and has been dated to the middle of the 14th century/the beginning of the 15th century. The runes are carved into a piece of wood. They start out clear and visible, but get slightly harder to read towards the end. They are still easy to see.

ᛆ ᛒ ᛋ ᛑ ᚽ ᚠ ᚵ ᚼ ᛁ ᚴ ᛚ ᛘ ᚿ ᚮ ᛔ ᚴ ᚱ ᛌ ᛐ ᚢ
a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p k r s t u
a b c d e f g h i k l m n o p q r s t u

This is an interesting inscription. Instead of the runic alphabet (fuþork), it has the Latin alphabet written on it with runes. The V, W, X, Y, Z, Æ, Ø, and Å is left out. Perhaps because these letters wasn’t used much at that time. Also the J is left out. In runic inscriptions, J and I is written with the same symbol (ᛁ) and since I and J comes right after each other, the J is probably left out because the same rune was rarely written several times after each other.

Runes that have been set up in accordance with the order in the Latin alphabet are not so common in the Norwegian finds. From Bryggen in Bergen there are at least one inscription like this one from Tronheim, but it is partially defective. Apart from that, there are two more from Norway.

A full analysis of the inscription done by Jan Ragnar Hagland can be found in Norwegian here.

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So-called practice inscriptions used to practice runic characters show that people practiced writing and that most people could read and write runes to a far greater degree than has been expected earlier. Another thing worth noticing is that the knowledge about runes was not taught at the schools of the time, which were under the church and monastic order. The education of the church and the monastic order was also reserved for the few who with the help of their own or friends could provide the necessary funds. Therefore, it seems that ordinary people’s writing and reading skills were handed down from person to person. Perhaps writing runes was something you learned from the man or woman you worked for?

Have you ever practiced the alphabet this way?