The Kingittorsuaq Runestone (old spelling: ''Kingigtorssuaq''), listed as GR 1 in 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, is a runestone that was found on
Kingittorsuaq Island, an island in the
Upernavik Archipelago
Upernavik Archipelago is a vast coastal archipelago in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, off the shores of northeastern Baffin Bay. The archipelago extends from the northwestern coast of Sigguup Nunaa peninsula in the south at ...
in northwestern
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
.
Description
The Kingittorsuaq Runestone was found in 1824 in a group of three
cairn
A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...
s that formed an
equilateral triangle
In geometry, an equilateral triangle is a triangle in which all three sides have the same length. In the familiar Euclidean geometry, an equilateral triangle is also equiangular; that is, all three internal angles are also congruent to each othe ...
on top of the mountain on
Kingittorsuaq Island in the south-central part of the
Upernavik Archipelago
Upernavik Archipelago is a vast coastal archipelago in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, off the shores of northeastern Baffin Bay. The archipelago extends from the northwestern coast of Sigguup Nunaa peninsula in the south at ...
. The stone is now located at the
National Museum of Denmark
The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from Strøget ...
in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
.
The stone has been dated to the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. The ''
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
'' states the date as April 25, 1135.
William Thalbitzer dates the stone to 1314 using
pentadic numerals. Others have dated the stone between 1250 and 1333.
However, as the historian Finn Gad has pointed out, the date given on the stone can be interpreted in various ways. As such, it cannot, as previously thought, be taken as evidence for the three hunters named on the stone in this region.
The last part of the
runic inscription
A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of El ...
is not transcribed as it is composed of unknown characters; some believe that they are meaningless, while others believe that it contains a secret message.
Inscription
Latin transliteration of the text on the runestone:
:el=likr * sikuaþs : so=n:r * ok * baan=ne : torta=r son : ok enriþi * os son : laukardak*in : fyrir * gakndag hloþu * ua=rda te * ok rydu : (followed by six unknown characters)
[Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk](_blank)
- 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 ...
entry for GR 1.
Old Norse transcription:
:''Erlingr Sigvatssonr ok Bjarni Þórðarson og Eindriði Oddsson laugardaginn fyrir gangdag hlóðu varða þessa ok ryðu...''
English translation:
:Erlingur the son of Sigvat and Bjarni Þorðar's son and Eindriði Oddr's son, the washingday (Saturday) before
Rogation Day
Rogation days are days of prayer and fasting in Western Christianity. They are observed with processions and the Litany of the Saints. The so-called ''major'' rogation is held on 25 April; the ''minor'' rogations are held on Monday to Wednesday ...
, raised this mound and rode...
Undeciphered Runes
The six runes following the translated text are undeciphered, though they do have very close single-character components.
The first two and final runes appear to have two components,
a
Sowilō (ᛋ) with a
Mannaz
*Mannaz is the conventional name of the ''m''-rune of the Elder Futhark. It is derived from the reconstructed Common Germanic word for "man", ''*mannaz''.
Younger Futhark ᛘ is maðr ("man"). It took up the shape of the algiz rune ᛉ, repl ...
(ᛘ) and/or
Algiz
Algiz (also Elhaz) is the name conventionally given to the "''z''-rune" of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet. Its transliteration is ''z'', understood as a phoneme of the Proto-Germanic language, the terminal ''*z'' continuing Proto-Indo-Europ ...
(ᛉ) on the top and bottom.
The following three runes appear also to have the top and bottom Mannaz or Algiz, just with a
Jēran
Jera (also Jeran, Jeraz) is the conventional name of the ''j''-rune of the Elder Futhark, from a reconstructed Common Germanic stem 'C.f. Page (2005:15). The word may have been either neuter or masculine in Common Germanic. meaning "harvest, (g ...
(ᛄ) instead.
See also
*
1824 in archaeology
*
Greenlandic Norse
Greenlandic Norse is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Norse settlements of Greenland until their demise in the late 15th century. The language is primarily attested by runic inscriptions found in Greenland. The limited ...
*
List of runestones
There are about 3,000 runestones in Scandinavia (out of a total of about 6,000 runic inscriptions). p. 38.
The runestones are unevenly distributed in Scandinavia:
The majority is found in Sweden, estimated at between 1,700 and 2,500 (depending o ...
*
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
*
Cipher runes
Cipher runes, or cryptic runes, are the cryptographical replacement of the letters of the runic alphabet.
Preservation
The knowledge of cipher runes was best preserved in Iceland, and during the 17th–18th centuries, Icelandic scholars produce ...
References
External links
Pre-Columbian Discovery of America(Text only in no
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{coord, 55.6750, N, 12.5751, E, source:wikidata, display=title
History of Greenland
Runestones
Runestones in Denmark
Upernavik Archipelago