Södermanland Runic Inscription 367 or Sö 367 is the Rundata catalog designation 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 Germ ...

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 d ...

located in Släbro, which is one kilometer north of

Nyköping Nyköping () is a locality and the seat of Nyköping Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 32,759 inhabitants as of 2017. The city is also the capital of Södermanland County. Including Arnö, the locality on the southern shore of th ...

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 th ...

, Sweden, which was 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, Västman ...

. The inscription has a facial mask and describes two men as being thegns and the owners of Sleðabrú, which today is modern day Släbro.

Description

This inscription consists of runic text 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 ...

in three rows and in an arch around a facial mask. The runestone, which is made of

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

and is 1.78 meters in height, 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 increa ...

RAK, which is considered to be the oldest classification. This is the classification for inscriptions that have straight text band ends without any attached serpent or beast heads. The facial mask on this stone is a common motif and is found on several other runestones including DR 62 in Sjelle, DR 66 in Århus, DR 81 in Skern, DR 258 in Bösarp, the now-lost DR 286 in Hunnestad, DR 314 in Lund, DR 335 in Västra Strö, Vg 106 in Lassegården, Sö 86 in Åby ägor, Sö 112 in Kolunda, Sö 167 in Landshammar, Nä 34 in Nasta, U 508 in Gillberga, U 670 in Rölunda, U 678 in Skokloster, U 824 in Holms, U 1034 in Tensta, and U 1150 in Björklinge, and on the

Sjellebro Stone The Sjellebro Stone is a Viking Age image stone located at Sjellbro, which is about 12 kilometers southeast of Randers, Denmark. The stone is inscribed with a facial mask. Description The Sjellbro Stone is about 1.7 meters in height and features t ...

. A small

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 ...

is at the bottom of the center line of text, and it has been suggested that the facial mask represents

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. Sö 367 was discovered broken in three pieces in a bathing area of the Nyköpingsån river near a farm in 1935, although it may have been noted in an earlier runestone survey conducted in the 1600s. This location was at an old crossing of this river, which was an important Viking Age waterway in Södermanland. The inscription on Sö 367 states that Hámundr and Ulfr raised the stone as a memorial to their father Hrólfr and were assisted by Hrólfr's spouse Eybjôrg. The text states that the father Hrólfr and a man named Freysteinn were Þegns or

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 ...

s. The exact status of thegns in

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

is unclear, although the term was borrowed from England, where it was used for royal or military retainers. Scandinavian thegns appear to have been powerful local landowners but it is unclear whether their status reflected royal sponsorship or power. The

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

phrase ''þrottaʀ þiagnaʀ'' or "þegns of strength" is written in a coded form using a combination of runes and

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 ...

. In addition, the word ''þrottaʀ'' uses a reverse-read bind rune that combines a þ-rune and an o-rune, although it has been suggested that this was due to an error in carving the runes. The phrase "Þegns of strength" is also used on Sö Fv1948;295 in Prästgården and in its singular form on Sö 90 in Lövhulta, Sö 112 in Kolunda, Sö 151 in Lövsund, Sö 158 in Österberga, and Sö 170 in Nälberga. p. 197. The text also uses a dotted form of the m-rune, which is considered to be a transitional form. The only other runestone in Södermanland that uses this form of an m-rune is Sö Fv1986;218, p. 219. although it is used on some other runestones in southern Sweden and Denmark. Hrólfr and Freysteinn are also stated as being the owners of Sleðabrú, which today is Släbro. The name Sleðabrú when the runestone was discovered was described as coming from ''Slaiþa, Bru'' meaning "bridge for sleighs." However, it has been suggested that the first part of the name comes from the stem ''slaiðo'' which means "slowly gliding," and refers to the Nyköpingsån river. Sö 367 is known locally as the ''Släbrostenen''. A second runestone, Sö 45, has been placed just south of Sö 367.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:hamunr : ulfʀ raisþu : stain : þinsi : efti : hrulf : faþur : sin : ayburg : at : unir sin þaiʀ otu : by : slaiþa:bru + fraystain : hrulfʀ o=þrutoʀ þiaknaProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for Sö 86.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Hamundr, Ulfʀ ræisþu stæin þennsi æftiʀ Hrolf, faður sinn, Øyborg at ver sinn. Þæiʀ attu by Sleðabro, Frøystæinn, Hrolfʀ, þrottaʀ þiagnaʀ.''

Translation in English

:Hámundr (and) Ulfr raised this stone in memory of Hrólfr, their father; Eybjôrg in memory of her husband. Freysteinn (and) Hrólfr, þegns of strength, they owned the estate of Sleðabrú.

References

External links

Photograph of Sö 367 in 1989
- Swedish National Heritage Board
Photograph of Sö 367 and Sö 45 before the Nyköpingsån river
- Swedish National Heritage Board

- Arild Hauge webpage on mask stones {{DEFAULTSORT:Sodermanland Runic Inscription 367 Runestones in Södermanland