Noleby Runestone

The Noleby Runestone was dated by Sophus Bugge to about 600 AD, and cannot be dated any younger than about 450 AD due to its language and rune forms.{{Cite book |last=Antonsen |first=Elmer H. |title=Runes and Germanic Linguistics |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |year=2002 |pages=180–183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvSi3JVNRFQC |isbn=3-11-017462-6}} It is notable because of its inscription runo [...] raginakundo which means "runes of divine origin" and which also appears in the later Sparlösa Runestone and the eddic poem Hávamál.{{Cite book |last=Lindow |first=John |editor-last=Clover |editor-first=Carol J. |editor2-last=John |editor2-first=Lindow |contribution=Mythology and Mythography |title=Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: a Critical Guide |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=1985 |pages=21–22 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pvarZQOft3UC |isbn=0-8020-3823-9}} This is of importance for the study of Norse mythology since it indicates that the expressions and the contents of the Poetic Edda are indeed of pre-historic Scandinavian origin.

The runic inscription consists of three lines of text between bands, with the second line considered untranslatable and often listed as being a "meaningless formula". The Noleby is the only runestone in Scandinavia that uses the star rune form ᛡ for /j/ rather than for /a/ or /h/.{{Cite book |last=Looijenga |first=Tineke |title=Texts and Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions |publisher=Brill |year=2003 |location=Leiden |page=143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-edm1fMPbXwC |isbn=90-04-12396-2}} The name Hakoþuz in the last line of the inscription is believed to mean "crooked one",{{Cite book |last=Antonsen |first=Elmer H. |editor-last=Jazayery |editor-first=Mohammad Ali |editor2-last=Winter |editor2-first=Werner |contribution=On the Mythological Interpretations of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions |title=Languages and Cultures: Studies in Honor of Edgar C. Polomé |publisher =Mouton de Gruyter |year=1988 |pages=47 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v56tj2EPZ-YC |isbn=3-11-010204-8}} although other interpretations have been suggested.[http://www.runenprojekt.uni-kiel.de/abfragen/standard/deutung2_eng.asp?findno=55&ort=Noleby&objekt=runsten,%20granit Twelve interpretations of the Noleby runestone text].

The Noleby Runestone is now located in the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm.

Below follows a presentation of the runestones based on the Rundata project. The transcriptions into Old Norse are in the Swedish and Danish dialect to facilitate comparison with the inscriptions, while the English translation provided by Rundata gives the names in the de facto standard dialect (the Icelandic and Norwegian dialect):

{{fs interlinear |indent=2 |class1=bold

|runo fahi raginakudo toj-a {¶ unaþou ÷ suhurah : susi(h)—tin ¶} hakuþo

|Runo fahi raginakundo toj[e'k]a. ... Hakoþuz.

|"I prepare the suitable divine rune ... for Hakoþuz."

[http://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskn/samnord.htm Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk] – Rundata.

}}

• Jēran

{{reflist|2}}

• The article [https://runeberg.org/nfbi/0090.html Fyrungastenen] in Nordisk familjebok (1908).

• [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/bild.asp?uid=24379 Photograph of Noleby Runestone]

{{runestones}}

Category:Runestones in Västergötland

Category:Collection of the Swedish History Museum