The Hälsingland Runic Inscription 21 is a

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

memorial

runestone 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 began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

cataloged as Hs 21 under

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 ...

, located in

Jättendal Jättendal is a locality situated in Nordanstig Municipality, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 253 inhabitants in 2010. A runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscript ...

Nordanstig Municipality Nordanstig Municipality (''Nordanstigs kommun'') is a municipality in Gävleborg County, east central Sweden. The municipal seat is located in Bergsjö. The municipality was created in 1974 when ''Bergsjö'', ''Gnarp'', ''Hassela'' and ''Har ...

Hälsingland Hälsingland (), sometimes referred to as Helsingia in English, is a historical province or ''landskap'' in central Sweden. It borders Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is part of the land of Norrland. Ad ...

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 ...

. It is notable for being crafted by a female

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 ...

Description

This runestone consists of

runic 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 ...

text carved within a band that curves along the stone. The granite runestone, which is two meters in height, is classified as being carved in a

runestone style :''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the Urnes style.'' The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increas ...

known as RAK. The inscription states that the runemaster, Gunnborga, "painted" the runes. She is the only known female rune carver during this time period in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

. The runic text uses the word ''fahido'', "painted", also translated as "carved" or "inscribed." Although many runestones had their inscriptions painted, there is no direct evidence that this particular runestone was painted. Of the personal names in the inscription, Ásmundr means "Divine Hand" and Farthegn means either "Far-Travelling

Thegn In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there w ...

" or "Far-Traveling Warrior." The name Thorketill or Þorketil, which includes as a

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or God's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that deit ...

element the

Norse pagan Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic people ...

god

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

, signifies a "Vessel of Thor" or "Kettle of Thor", possibly a type of sacrificial cauldron. The ''

Poetic Edda The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic me ...

'' poem ''

Hymiskviða ''Hymiskviða'' (Old Norse: 'The lay of Hymir'; anglicized as ''Hymiskvitha'', ''Hymiskvidha'' or ''Hymiskvida'') is a poem collected in the ''Poetic Edda''. The poem appears to have been first written down in the late 12th century.''Norse Mytholo ...

'' includes a story of Thor fetching a large cauldron to brew

ale Ale is a Type of beer, type of beer brewed using a Warm fermentation, warm fermentation method, resulting in a sweet, full-bodied and fruity taste. Historically, the term referred to a drink brewed without hops. As with most beers, ale typicall ...

Inscription

A transliteration of the runic inscription into roman letters is: :asmuntr * ok fa � * þiʀ ritu stin * þina * aftiʀ þu katil * faþur sin * a utrunkum * knburka faþ stin þina in kuþa''Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
-

entry for Hs 21.

References

External links

Image of this runestone
from The Swedish National Heritage Board {{DEFAULTSORT:Halsingland Rune Inscription 21 Hälsingland Runic Inscription 021

Description

Inscription

See also

References

External links