The Læborg or Laeborg Runestone, listed as DR 26 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

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 A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

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 ...

located outside of the village hall or ''Forsamlinghus'' in Læborg, which is about 3 kilometers north of

Vejen Vejen with a population of 10,009 (1 January 2022) is the main town in Vejen Municipality, Denmark. Geography The town is situated in the Danish region of Syddanmark and is a railway town at the railway between the cities of Kolding and Esbjerg. ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. The stone includes two depictions of the hammer of 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 ...

Description

The inscription on DR 26 consists of two lines of runic text designated as lines A and B in the

younger futhark The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries. The r ...

written in

boustrophedon Boustrophedon is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the le ...

fashion on the granite stone, which is 2.36 meters in height. After each line is a depiction of a hammer, which has been interpreted as being Thor's hammer Mjöllnir. Thor's hammer was used on several memorial runestones in Sweden and Denmark, perhaps as a parallel to or a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

reaction to the use of the

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

by Christians. Other surviving runestones or inscriptions depicting Thor's hammer include runestones U 1161 in Altuna, Sö 86 in Åby, Sö 111 in Stenkvista, Vg 113 in Bjärby, Öl 1 in Karlevi, DR 48 in Skjern, DR 120 in Spentrup, and DR 331 in Gårdstånga. The depiction of the hammers on DR 26 are very similar to the hammer on DR 48. The inscription is classified as being carved in

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 ...

RAK, which is considered to be the oldest style. This is the classification for runic text bands with straight ends that do not have any attached serpent or beast heads. The stone was noted by

Ole Worm Ole Worm (13 May 1588 – 31 August 1654), who often went by the Latinized form of his name Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician, natural historian and antiquary. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen where he taught Greek, Latin ...

as having been discovered around 1638 in a field north of Læborg. A portion of the top of the stone is damaged. A small fragment of the stone was discovered in 1888 and is inserted into the top of the B line of the text. The runic text states that the stone was raised by a man named Tófi in memory of a woman named Þyrvé, which is normalized as Thyrve and sometimes as Thorvi. Thyrve is described as being his trutnik, a word meaning the wife or descendant of a trutin or "lord," which is transcribed into

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

as ''drotning'' and often translated as "lady." p. 699. This same word is also used on DR 134 in Ravnkilde and translated as "lady." Tófi and Thyrve are also associated with Danish runestone DR 29 in Bække, which records that Tófi created a mound in honor of Thyrve, and DR 40 in Randbøl is a stone raised by Tófi in memory of his assistant named Þorgunnr. p. 141. Thyrve was a common name of the period, and a different woman of that name is recorded on the Danish runestone DR 97 in Ålum. Because DR 26 is dated based upon stylistic and linguistic analysis from 900 to 950 C.E., it may also be possible that the Thyrve of DR 26 might also be the same woman that is recorded on DR 41 and DR 42 in Jelling, which describe a

Thyra Thyra, also known as Thorvi or Thyre, was a Danish queen, spouse of King Gorm the Old of Denmark, the first historically recognized King of Denmark, who reigned from to his death .

who is the wife of king

Gorm the Old Gorm the Old ( da, Gorm den Gamle; non, Gormr gamli; la, Gormus Senex), also called Gorm the Languid ( da, Gorm Løge, Gorm den Dvaske), was ruler of Denmark, reigning from to his death or a few years later.Lund, N. (2020), p. 147

. If these Thyrve are the same woman, then the runestones may be a record of a dispute regarding inheritance between two competing Danish families. However, most scholars believe that it is more likely that DR 26 along with DR 29 refer to a different woman with the same name than the Thyra noted on the Jelling Stones DR 41 and DR 42. The stone is known locally as the ''Læborgsten''.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:A rhafnukatufi ÷ hiau ÷ runaʀ : þasi aft :B þurui ÷ trutnik : sinaProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
-

entry for DR 26.

Transcription into Old Norse

:A ''Hrafnunga-Tofi hio runaʀ þæssi æft'' :B ''Þorwi, drotning sina.''

Translation in English

:A Tófi, of Hrafn's lineage, made these runes in memory of :B Thyre, his queen.

References

External links

Photograph of stone

{{runestones Runestones in Denmark 10th-century inscriptions