Södermanland Runic Inscription 235 or Sö 235 is 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 ...

listing for 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 ...

fragment that is located in Västerby, which is six kilometers southwest of

Väländan Väländan is a locality situated in Haninge Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway t ...

, Stockholm County,

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

Södermanland Södermanland ( ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latinisation of names, Latinized form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a Provinces of Sweden, historical province (or ) on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Österg� ...

Description

This inscription, which is missing its upper section, consists of runic text in the younger futhark carved on a serpent that once encircled two animals. The animals, which because of the missing section cannot be clearly identified, appear to have hoofs and may be deer, elk, or horses. Several

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n runestones include depictions of horses, including DR 96 in Ålum, N 61 in Alstad, Sö 101 in Ramsundsberget, Sö 226 in Norra Stutby, Sö 327 in Göksten, Sö 239 in Häringe, U 375 in Vidbo, U 488 in Harg, U 599 in Hanunda, U 691 in Söderby, U 855 in Böksta, U 901 in Håmö, U 935 at the

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral () is a cathedral located between the University Hall (Uppsala University), University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in t ...

, and U 1003 in Frötuna. The inscription, which is 1 meter 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 increas ...

Pr3, which is also known as Urnes style. This runestone style is characterized by slim and stylized animals that are interwoven into tight patterns, with the animal heads typically seen in profile with slender almond-shaped eyes and upwardly curled appendages on the noses and the necks. Based on stylistic analysis, Sö 235 has been attributed to a

runemaster A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones. Description More than 100 names of runemasters are known from Viking Age Sweden with most of them from 11th-century eastern Svealand.The article ''Runristare'' in ''Nationalencyklo ...

with the

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

name of Halvdan, who was active in the mid-11th century in Södermanland and signed the inscription Sö 270 in Tyresta. Over fifteen other runestones have been attributed to him, including Sö 237 in Fors, Sö 239 in Häringe, Sö 244 in Tuna, Sö 245 in Tungelsta, the now-lost Sö 247 in Ålsta, Sö 252 in Säby, Sö 256 in Älby, Sö 262 in Blista, Sö 269 in Söderby Malm, Sö 272 in Upp-Norrby, Sö 274 in Södersluss, Sö 290 in Farsta, Sö 292 in Bröta, Sö 297 in Uppinge, Sö 298 in Uringe Malm, and Sö 301 in Ågesta Bro. The remaining runic text on this fragment, which appears to follow the memorial formula typical on runestones of this period, was recorded on a drawing published in 1855. Since then, additional portions of the stone have been lost. The reconstructed text from the damaged stone states that the sponsor of the runestone was a man named Guðbjôrn and at least one other brother who raised the stone in memory of their father Védjarfr. Similar to his other inscriptions, Halvdan used a word divider

punctuation mark Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of written text should be read (silently or aloud) and, consequently, understood. The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, consisti ...

between each word of the surviving text. One word of the text, * þin * or ''þenna'', is carved inside the serpent near the hind legs of one of the animals.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:: kuþbiurn : auk : o... : litu : ... stan :* þin * at : uitirf : faþur : sin *Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
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entry for Sö 235.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Guðbiorn ok ... letu æisastæin þenna at Vidiarf, faður sinn.''

Translation in English

:Guðbjôrn and ... had this stone raised in memory of Védjarfr, their father.

References

External links

Photograph of Sö 235 in 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodermanland Runic Inscription 235 Runestones in Södermanland 11th-century inscriptions