The Sønder Kirkeby Runestone, listed as

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 ...

DR 220 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 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 ...

that was discovered in Sønder Kirkeby, which is located about 5 kilometers east of

Nykøbing Falster Nykøbing Falster (; originally named Nykøbing) is a city on the island of Falster in southern Denmark. It has a population of 16,682 (1 January 2025). Including the satellite town Sundby (Lolland), Sundby on the Lolland side, with a populatio ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Description

The Sønder Kirkeby Runestone has been known to Danish antiquarians since 1802 when it was discovered in the northwest wall of the church in Sønder Kirkeby. Before the historical significance of runestones was understood, they were often reused as building materials in the construction of roads, bridges, and buildings. The stone was removed by the Danish Antiquarian Commission in 1811, and it is currently on display at the

National Museum of Denmark The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark, Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from S ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. The runestone, which is 0.79 meters in height, is known locally as the ''Sønder Kirkeby-stenen''. The inscription consists of four lines of runic text in the younger futhark that are below the image of a ship. Portions of the inscription and the ship image are damaged, which probably occurred when the stone was sized for use in the church wall. The Sønder Kirkeby Runestone is classified as being carved in runestone style RAK. This is considered to be the classification for the oldest style and is used for inscriptions where the ends of the runic text bands are straight and do not have any attached dragon or serpent heads. The inscription is dated as being carved after the

Jelling stones The Jelling stones () are massive carved runestones from the 10th century, found at the town of Jelling in Denmark. The older of the two Jelling stones was raised by King Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra. The larger of the two stones ...

. The runic text states that the stone was raised by Sassur as a memorial for his brother Ásgautr, with the damaged text reconstructed as stating that the brother died in

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

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 ...

. Other runestones which mention Gotland include Sö 174 in Aspö, the now-lost U 414 in Norrsunda, U 527 in Frötuna, U 614 in Torsätra, DR 259 in Fuglie, possibly Sö 47 in Vålsta, where the text has been damaged, and with U 375 in Vidbo referring to a location on Gotland. The inscription also has an

invocation Invocation is the act of calling upon a deity, spirit, or supernatural force, typically through prayer, ritual, or spoken formula, to seek guidance, assistance, or presence. It is a practice found in numerous religious, spiritual, and esote ...

to 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 ...

to " hallow these runes" that is hidden using three bind runes located in the waves below the image of the ship. A bind rune is a

ligature Ligature may refer to: Language * Ligature (writing), a combination of two or more letters into a single symbol (typography and calligraphy) * Ligature (grammar), a morpheme that links two words Medicine * Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture us ...

that combines one or more runes into a single rune. In this case, one bind rune combines the runes þ=u=r for the name Thor, another the runes u=i=k=i for the word ''wigi'' or "hallow," and a third the runes (r)=u=n=a=ʀ for the word ''runaʀ'' or "runes." Because the runes are vertically separated along a common stave, runologists further classify these bind runes as being same-stave runes. Another example of an inscription using same-stave runes is the Swedish runestone Sö 158 at Ärsta. The reason for hiding the invocation to Thor is unknown, but it is clearly intended to be hidden. There are two other runestones that have similar invocations to Thor located in Denmark, DR 110 from Virring and DR 209 from Glavendrup, and three other stones in Sweden, Ög 136 in Rök, Vg 150 from Velanda, and possibly Sö 140 at Korpbron. The wording of the invocation on the Sønder Kirkeby Runestone is most similar to that used on the

Glavendrup stone The Glavendrup stone, designated as DR 209 by Rundata, is a runestone on the island of Funen in Denmark and dates from the early 10th century. It contains Denmark's longest runic inscription and ends in a curse. Description The runestone forms ...

. It has been noted that Thor is the only Norse god who is invoked on any Viking Age runestones.

Inscription

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonder Kirkeby Runestone 1802 archaeological discoveries Runestones in Denmark