The Rö runestone, designated under Rundata as Bo KJ73 U, is one of Sweden's oldest and most notable

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 ...

Description

The Rö runestone was discovered in 1919 at the farm Rö on the island of Otterö, north of the fishing village Grebbestad in Bohuslän. At that time, it was erected near the location where it was found, but currently resides in the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. The stone is made of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

and it is 2 metres tall and more than 1.2 metres wide. The inscription was made on a flat surface, unfortunately damaged due to flaking, and runs in four parallel rows from top to bottom. Using the elder futhark, the runes are composed in

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 ...

exhibiting preserved declensions and intermediate vowels that would ultimately be lost when the language transitioned into

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 ...

. The form of the runes suggests that the inscription dates from the early 5th century and is consequently the longest inscription from a period earlier than the 7th century. Because the location where this runestone stood is adjacent to an ancient sailing route, it is possible that the inscription was made by visitors and not by locals. The name Stainawarijaz in the text means "Stone Guard" or "Keeper of Stones." In addition, the word ''fahido'', often translated as "carved" or "inscribed," actually means "painted." Many runestones had their inscriptions painted, although there is no direct evidence that the Rö runestone was painted other than the use of this word.

Inscription

Transcription of the runes

:ek hra(z)az/hra(þ)az satido -tain ¶ ana----(r) ¶ swabaharjaz ¶ s-irawidaz ¶ ... stainawarijaz fahidoProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for Bo KJ73 U.

Transliteration

:Ek Hrazaz/Hraþaz satido ain ... Swabaharjaz s rawidaz. ... Stainawarijaz fahido.

Translation

:I, Hrazaz/Hraþaz raised the stone ... Suebian warrior with wide wounds. ... Stainawarijaz carved.

References

Sources

External links

Photograph of Rö runestone
5th-century inscriptions Runestones in Bohuslän Proto-Norse language Elder Futhark inscriptions {{Nordic-lang-stub