Södermanland Runic Inscription 158 or Sö 158 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 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 ...

located in Österberga, which is one kilometer southwest of Ärsta and three kilometers southwest of Runtuna,

Södermanland County Södermanland County ( sv, Södermanlands län) is a county or '' län'' on the southeast coast of Sweden. In the local Sörmlandic dialects it is virtually universally shortened and pronounced as Sörmlands län, or simply Sörmland, which is t ...

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 ...

, and in the historic province of

Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanla ...

. The inscription includes an image of a ship and uses same-stave

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 to commemorate a man described as being a

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 ...

Description

This runestone was initially noted during the Swedish surveys of runestones in the late 17th century, and a drawing of the inscription made by Johan Göransson was published under the name Bautil in 1750. pp. 195-197. The runestone was then lost, but was rediscovered in 1951 near a farmhouse by Claes Widén and moved to its current location in 1984. The stone is made of granite and is 1.6 meters in height. 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 ...

consists of runic text carved on a serpent which arches over the image of a ship. Other runic inscriptions from the Viking Age which depict ships include DR 77 in Hjermind, DR 119 in Spentrup, DR 220 in Sønder Kirkeby, DR 258 in Bösarp, DR 271 in Tullstorp, DR 328 in Holmby, DR EM85;523 in Farsø, Ög 181 in Ledberg, Ög 224 in Stratomta, Ög MÖLM1960;230 in Törnevalla, Sö 122 in Skresta, Sö 154 in Skarpåker, Sö 164 in Spånga, Sö 351 in Överjärna, Sö 352 in Linga, Vg 51 in Husaby, U 370 in Herresta, U 979 in Gamla Uppsala, U 1052 in Axlunda, U 1161 in Altuna, and Vs 17 in Råby. Three stones, the Hørdum and Långtora kyrka stones and U 1001 in Rasbo, depict ships but currently do not have any runes on them and may never have had any. 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 ...

Fp, which is the classification for runic bands that end in serpent heads depicted as seen from above. The runic text is 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 ...

and indicates that the stone was raised by two sons in memory of their father Ketilhôfði, who is described as being ''þróttar þegn'' or a

of strength, using

s carved along the mast of the ship. A thegn was a class of retainer 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, ...

. A bind rune is a

ligature Ligature may refer to: * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure ** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry * Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the me ...

that combines one or more runes into a single rune. Because the runes are vertically separated along a common stave,

runologists Runology is the study of the Runic alphabets, Runic inscriptions and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics. History Runology was initiated by Johannes Bureus (1568–1652), who was very interested in the lingu ...

further classify these bind runes as being same-stave runes. The runes for the phrase ''þróttar þegn'', which supplement the main runic text, þ=r=u=t=a=ʀ= =þ=i=a=k=n, are carved along the mast, and alternate on each side of the mast reading from the bottom. A similar design with same-stave bindrunes along the base of a cross that forms the mast of a ship which is surrounded by a serpent is on inscription Sö 352 in Linga. It is believed that the same

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 ...

carved both Sö 158 and Sö 352. The phrase ''þróttar þegn'' is used on six other runestones, Sö 90 in Lövhulta, Sö 112 in Kolunda, Sö 151 in Lövsund, and Sö 170 in Nälberga, and, in its plural form on Sö 367 in Släbro and Sö Fv1948;295 in Prästgården. To the right of the mast are three runes uit whose interpretation is unknown, but it has been suggested that they be translated as an imperative ''vit'' meaning "know" or "take seriously." Other runestones with similar imperative exclamations in their runic texts include U 29 at Hillersjö and U 328 at Stora Lundby.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:: baki : fulk(s)tin þiʀ : raisþu : stin : þan:si : at : faþur : sin kitilhafþa þ=r=u=t=a=ʀ= =þ=i=a=k=n uitProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
-

entry for Sö 158.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Banki/Baggi, Folksteinn, þeir reistu stein þenna at fôður sinn Ketilhôfða, þróttar þegn .''

Translation in English

:Banki/Baggi (and) Folksteinn, they raised this stone in memory of their father Ketilhôfði, a Þegn of strength. ...

References

External links

Photograph of stone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodermanland Runic Inscription 158 17th-century archaeological discoveries Runestones in Södermanland