This runic inscription, designated as Sm 99 in the

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 ...

catalog, is on a

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

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 ...

located in Nederby, which is about two kilometers northwest of

Myresjö Myresjö is a locality situated in Vetlanda Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 646 inhabitants in 2010. Sports The following sports clubs are located in Myresjö: * Myresjö IF Myresjö is a locality situated in Vetlanda Municipali ...

Jönköping County Jönköping County () is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in September 2017. The capita ...

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 ...

, and in the historic province of

Småland Småland () is a historical Provinces of Sweden, province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name ''Småland'' literally means "small la ...

Description

The inscription on this granite

, which is 1.55 meters in height, consists of runic text in the younger futhark inscribed within a spiral text band. The stone is near a road and a small stream, and the runic text states that a bridge was made as a memorial. The reference to bridge-building in the runic text is fairly common in runestones during this time period. Some are

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

references related to passing the bridge into the afterlife. At this time, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

sponsored the building of roads and bridges through a practice similar to an

indulgence In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an indulgence (, from , 'permit') is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for (forgiven) sins". The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' describes an indulgence as "a remission bef ...

in return for the church's intercession for the soul of the departed. pp. 490-492. There are many examples of these bridge stones dated from the eleventh century, including runic inscriptions Sö 101 in Ramsund, U 69 in Eggeby, and U 489 in Morby. Nearby to Sm 99 on the other side of the stream is a second runestone, Sm 100 in Glömsjö, which also discusses the building of a bridge as a memorial. It is unclear if the two stones refer to the same bridge or if two families cooperated in its construction. The runic text states that two sons named Þórðr and Þorbjôrn built the bridge and raised the stone as a memorial to their father Verskulfr. Of the personal names mentioned in the text, two contain the Norse pagan god

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

as a

theophoric name A theophoric name (from Greek: , ''theophoros'', literally "bearing or carrying a god") embeds the word equivalent of 'god' or a god's name in a person's name, reflecting something about the character of the person so named in relation to that d ...

element. The name Þorbjôrn translates as "Thor Bear," and Þórðr is a shortened form of Þór-röðr, a common male name form based upon the god's name.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:: þurþʀ * auk * þurbiourn * karþu r)(u) �as fiʀ : uersku(l)f * faþur * sinProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
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entry for Sm 99.

Transcription into Old Norse

:Þórðr ok Þorbjôrn gerðu brú þessa eptir Verskulf, fôður sinn.

Translation in English

:Þórðr and Þorbjôrn made this bridge in memory of Verskulfr, their father.

References