250px, Runestone Sö 84 in Tumbo, Sweden. Södermanland Runic Inscription 84 or Sö 84 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 ...

designation for a

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 E ...

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

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 Tumbo,

Södermanland County Södermanland County (, ) is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' on the southeast coast of Sweden. In the local Sörmlandic dialects it is virtually universally shortened and pronounced as Sörmlands län, or simply Sörmland, which is the ...

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 is on a granite runestone is 1.8 meters in height and consists of a

Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as representing the crucifixion of Jesus, is a religious symbol, symbol of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix, a cross that includes a ''corpus'' (a representation of Jesus' body, usually three-dimensional) a ...

surrounded by a runic serpent text band. The place name Skyttingi in the runic text, sometimes read as Skytiki, refers to the modern hamlet of Skyttinge located in Tumbo parish. The inscription 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 ...

KB, which is the designation used for runestones with crosses circled with a runic inscription. The runic text indicates that the stone was raised as a memorial to someone's brother named Þorbjôrn and ends with a prayer for his soul. Although the memorial stone has a

on it, two of the personal names in the inscription include the

Norse pagan Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into distinct branches. It was replaced by Christianity and forgotten ...

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. Þorbjôrn translates as "Thor's Bear" and Þorsteinn as "Thor's Stone." The names in the Sö 84 inscription also reflect a common practice of that time in Scandinavia of repeating an element in a parent's name in the names of the children. p. 750. Here the ''Þor'' from the father's name, Þorsteinn, is repeated in the name of the son, Þorbjôrn, to show the family relationship.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:× a...ʀ ...et * raisa * stain * at * þorbiorn * boroþur * sin * sun * þorstainʀ * i skytiki * kuþ * hiolbi * ant * ¶ * þorbiornaʀ *Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
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entry for Sö 84.

Transcription into Old Norse

:... �t reisa stein at Þorbjôrn, bróður sinn, son Þorsteins í Skyttingi. Guð hjalpi ônd Þorbjarnar.

Translation in English

:... had the stone raised in memory of Þorbjôrn, his brother, Þorsteinn of Skyttingi's son. May God help Þorbjôrn's spirit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodermanland Runic Inscription 084 Runestones in Södermanland