300px, Runestone Gs 7 in Torsåker, Sweden. Gästrikland Runic Inscription 7 or Gs 7 is the

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base ( sv, Samnordisk runtextdatabas) is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way f ...

catalog number for a Viking Age memorial runestone located in Torsåker,

Gävleborg County Gävleborg County ( sv, Gävleborgs län) is a county or '' län'' on the Baltic Sea coast of Sweden. It borders the counties of Uppsala, Västmanland, Dalarna, Jämtland and Västernorrland. The capital is Gävle. Provinces Gävleborg Cou ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, which was part of the historic province of Gästrikland.

Description

This runestone is composed of limestone and is 2.1 meters in height. The runestone is located in the porch of the Torsåker church. The inscription consists of runic text in the younger futhark in a band surrounding a Christian cross. In the inscription, the runes kuþmuntro for the name Guðmundr, which the text says was a man who drowned, are depicted directly below the cross. To the left of the name is a depiction of a woman that is 22 centimeters in height. The composition balances the figure of the woman with the runes þrukn-þi for the word ''druknaði'' ("drowned") on the other side of the name. The inscription is classified as being carved in runestone style RAK, which is the style classification for runic text that is within straight bands that do not have any serpent or animal heads attached. The inscription is unsigned but has been attributed to the

runemaster A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones. Description More than 100 names of runemasters are known from Viking Age Sweden with most of them from 11th-century eastern Svealand.The article ''Runristare'' in ''Nationalencyklo ...

Åsmund Åsmund or Aasmund is a Norse male given name, derived from ''as'' ('god') and ''mundr'' ('protector'). People with the given name Åsmund or Aasmund include: *Asmund, Varangian tutor of Sviatoslav I of Kiev (945–972) * Åsmund Asdal (born 1957) ...

,Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
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entry for Gs 7. who was active in the first half of the eleventh century. Åsmund used two

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

s in this runic text, combining in stin the s-rune and t-rune for the word ''stein'' ("stone") and in bruþur combining the u-rune and r-rune for the word ''bróður'' ("brother"). Of the personal names listed in the inscription, Guðbjôrn means "God's Bear" and Guðmundr means "God's Hand." The use of the common name element ''Guð'' in the two names would indicate that they were members of the same family, although the runic text, which is damaged and incomplete, does not directly state this. A common practice at that time in Scandinavia was the repeating one of the name elements from a parent's name in the names of the children to show the family connection. p. 750.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:× -(u)(i)(r)(i) riti s=tin þino × at kuþbiurna × bruþu=r si-... ...m... × kuta ' uas muþiʀ × kuþmu-r × ... : kuþmuntro : þrukn-þi :

Transcription into Old Norse

:<-uiri> rétti stein þenna at Guðbjôrn, bróður si n... var móðir Guðmu da. ... Guðmundr drukn �i.

Translation in English

:... erected this stone in memory of Guðbjôrn, his brother ... was Guðmundr's mother ... Guðmundr drowned.

References