The Tune stone is an important

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 ...

from about 200–450 AD. It bears runes of the

Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Pe ...

, and the language is

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Proto-Scandinavian and Proto-North Germanic) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a ...

. It was discovered in 1627 in the church yard wall of the church in Tune,

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other sid ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Today it is housed in the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. The Tune stone is possibly the oldest Norwegian attestation of burial rites and

inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offici ...

Inscription

The stone has inscriptions on two sides, called side A and side B. Side A consists of an inscription of two lines (A1 and A2), and side B consists of an inscription of three lines (B1, B2 and B3), each line done in boustrophedon style.Antonsen (2002:126–127) The A side reads:
::A1: ekwiwazafter`woduri ::A2: dewitadahalaiban:worathto`?[--- The B side reads:
::B1: ????zwoduride:staina: ::B2: þrijozdohtrizdalidun ::B3: arbijasijostezarbijano The transcription of the runic text is: ::A: Ek Wiwaz after Woduride witandahlaiban worhto r[unoz]. ::B: [Me]z(?) Woduride staina þrijoz dohtriz dalidun(?) arbija arjostez(?) arbijano.Projektet Samnordisk runtextdatabas
– Rundata The English translation is: ::I, Wiwaz, made the runes after Woduridaz, my lord. For me, Woduridaz, three daughters, the most distinguished of the heirs, prepared the stone. The name Wiwaz means "the promised one" from Indo-European *h₁wegʷ-ós while Woduridaz means "fury-rider." The phrase ''witandahlaiban'' that is translated as "my lord" means "ward-bread" or "guardian of the bread."Nielsen (2006:267). (The English word "lord" similarly originated from Old English ''hlāford'' < ''hlāf-weard'' literally "loaf-ward", i.e. "guardian of the bread".)

Interpretations

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 ...

was first interpreted by

Sophus Bugge Elseus Sophus Bugge (5 January 1833 – 8 July 1907) was a Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scholarly work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runic ...

in 1903 and Carl Marstrander in 1930, but the full text was not interpreted convincingly until 1981 by Ottar Grønvik in his book ''Runene på Tunesteinen''.

Notes

References

* * Grønvik, Ottar (1981). ''Runene på Tunesteinen: Alfabet, Språkform, Budskap''. Universitetsforlaget * * {{refend 5th-century inscriptions Runestones in Norway Proto-Norse language

Inscription

Interpretations

See also

Notes

References