Seeland-II-C

File:Seeland-II-C.jpg

Seeland-II-C (Sjælland bracteate 2) is a Scandinavian bracteate from Zealand, Denmark, that has been dated to the Migration period (around 500 AD). The bracteate bears an Elder Futhark inscription which reads as:

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|ᚺᚨᚱᛁᚢᚺᚨ ᚺᚨᛁᛏᛁᚲᚨ ᛬ ᚠᚨᚱᚨᚢᛁᛋᚨ ᛬ ᚷᛁᛒᚢ ᚨᚢᛅᚨ ᛬ ᛏᛏᛏ

|hariuha haitika : farauisa : gibu auja : ttt

|}}

The final ttt is a triple-stacked Tiwaz rune. This use of the rune is often interpreted as three invocations of the Norse pagan god Tyr.{{cite book |last=Spurkland |first=Terje |title=Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions |publisher=Boydell Press |year=2005 |page=12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QDKqY-NWvUC |isbn=1-84383-186-4 }}

The central image shows a male's head above a quadruped. This is the defining characteristic of C-bracteates (of which some 400 specimens survive), and is often interpreted as a depiction of the god Odin, healing his horse.

Wolfgang Krause translates the inscription as: "Hariuha I am called: the dangerous knowledgeable one: I give chance."Krause, W. (1971). Die Sprache der Urnordischen Runeninschriften. {{ISBN|3-533-02179-3}}. farauisa is interpreted as fara-uisa, either "danger-wise" or "travel-wise". Erik Moltke translates this word as "one who is wise about dangers".Moltke, Erik (1976). Runerne i Danmark og deres Oprindelse. {{ISBN|87-553-0426-5}}. Published in English as Runes and their Origin: Denmark and Elsewhere. The giving of "chance" or "luck" in the inscription is evidence of the use of bracteates as amulets.{{cite book |last=Looijenga |first=Tineke |title=Texts and Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions |publisher=Brill |year=2003|page=213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-edm1fMPbXwC |isbn=90-04-12396-2}}

The inscription *hariuha is suggested to contain the Germanic noun *harja, meaning "army, troop" - a common occurrence in Germanic compound names.{{cite journal |last=Hultgård |first=Anders |title=Formules de Théophanie, de la Scandinavie à l’Iran |journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |issue=1 |volume=2009 |pages=219-220 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_2009_num_153_1_92462}}

See also

References

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