The Rö runestone, designated under

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...

as Bo KJ73 U, is one of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

's oldest and most notable

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

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 Bohuslän () is a Provinces of Sweden, Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea to the ...

. 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 (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

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 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 Per ...

, the runes are composed in

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic; Danish and ; ; ; ) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic in the first centuries CE. It is the earliest stage of a c ...

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

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

. 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
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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 Collection of the Swedish History Museum {{Nordic-lang-stub