''Erilaz'' or ''Erilaʀ'' is a

Migration period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Proto-Scandinavian and Proto-North Germanic) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a ...

word attested on various

Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Peri ...

inscriptions, which has often been interpreted to mean " magician" or "rune master",* viz. one who is capable of writing

runes Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...

to magical effect. However, as Mees (2003) has shown, the word is an

ablaut In linguistics, the Indo-European ablaut (, from German '' Ablaut'' ) is a system of apophony (regular vowel variations) in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). An example of ablaut in English is the strong verb ''sing, sang, sung'' and its ...

variant of

earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

, and is also thought to be linguistically related to the name of the tribe of the

Heruli The Heruli (or Herules) were an early Germanic people. Possibly originating in Scandinavia, the Heruli are first mentioned by Roman authors as one of several " Scythian" groups raiding Roman provinces in the Balkans and the Aegean Sea, attacking ...

, so it is probably merely an old Germanic military title (see etymology below).

Etymology

This word is likeliest the

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...

ancestor of Anglo-Saxon ''eorl'' (Modern English ''earl'') and its relatives, meaning "man, warrior, noble". The word ''erilaz'' is likely a derivative of *''erǭ'' sb.f. "fight, battle", thus the interpretation "one who fights, warrior", though it has also been connected to *''arô'' sb.m. "eagle". Historical instances: *Latin: Heruli (dating from around 250 AD onwards) *Greek: Eruloi (dating from around 250 AD onwards) *Runic: Erilaz (dating from around 200 AD - 400 AD)

Inscriptions

Lindholm "amulet"

The Lindholm "amulet" ( DR 261 $U) is a bone piece found in Skåne, dated to the 2nd to 4th centuries. The inscription contains the word ''Erilaz''.

Funen shaft

The Kragehul I (DR 196 U) spear-shaft found in

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

Kiel Rune Project
/ref> that bears the inscription: ::'' ��' ::'' ��' Which is interpreted as "I, the earl of Āsugīsalaz, am called Muha," followed by some sort of battle cry or chant ("gagaga"). Āsugīsalaz contains '' ansu-'', "god", and ''gīsalaz'', "pledge". ''Muha'' may either be a personal name, or a word meaning "retainer" or similar. The runes of ''gagaga'' are displayed as a row of three

bindrune A bind rune or bindrune ( is, bandrún) is a Migration Period Germanic ligature of two or more runes. They are extremely rare in Viking Age inscriptions, but are common in earlier (Proto-Norse) and later (medieval) inscriptions.Enoksen, Lars Magn ...

s based on the X-shape of the ''g'' rune with side-twigs attached to its extremities for the ''a''. A similar sequence ''gægogæ'' is found on the

Undley bracteate The Undley bracteate is a 5th-century bracteate found in Undley Common, near Lakenheath, Suffolk. It bears the earliest known inscription that can be argued to be in Anglo-Frisian Futhorc (as opposed to Common Germanic Elder Futhark). The ...

Other items

* Strängnäs stone (probably authentic) …rila͡z *

Bracteate A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Vende ...

s Eskatorp-F and Väsby-F have e rilaz = "I ma Herulian" *Bratsberg clasp: ekerilaz *Veblungsnes:ekirilazwiwila *Rosseland (N KJ69 U): ekwagigazirilaz *

Järsberg Runestone The Järsberg Runestone is a runestone in the elder futhark near Kristinehamn in Värmland, Sweden. Inscription It contains the following runic text: : The text as transliterated into Latin letters: :...ubaz hite ÷ h=arabana=z ¶ h=ait... � ...

(Vr 1): ekerilaz *By (N KJ71 U): ekirilaz *The Etelheim clasp has mkmrlawrta read as ek erla wrta "I, Erla, wrote this"; Runic e and m are similar to each other.

Notes

References

* Mees, B. (2003). "Runic 'erilaR'", ''North-Western European Language Evolution (NOWELE)'', 42:41-68. * Orel, Vladimir (2003). ''A Handbook of Germanic Etymology''. Leiden: Brill. pg. 205. . * Plowright, S. (2006). ''The Rune Primer'', Lulu Press. {{ISBN, 1-84728-246-6
book review

External links

Wortmaterial der Runeninschriften nach Wortklassen
Historical runic magic Elder Futhark inscriptions Proto-Norse language