Rö runestone
Encyclopedia
The Rö runestone, designated under Rundata
as Bo KJ73 U, is one of Sweden
's oldest and most notable runestones.
in Bohuslän
. It is presently erected near the location where it was found.
The stone is made of granite
and it is 2 metres tall and more than 1.2 metres wide. The inscription has been made on a flat surface which unfortunately is damaged due to flaking. The runes are engraved in four parallel rows running from top to bottom. The runes are in the elder futhark
and the language is Proto-Norse with preserved declensions and intermediate vowels that would much later be lost when the language turned into Old Norse
. The form of the runes suggest that it dates from the early 5th century and it is consequently the longest inscription from a period earlier than the 7th century.
Since the location of this runestone is near a sailing route, it is possible that this runic inscription was made by visitors and not by locals.
The name Stainawarijaz in the text means "Stone Guard" or "Keeper of Stones." In addition, the word fahido, often translated as "carved" or "inscribed," actually means "painted." Many runestones had their inscriptions painted, although there is no direct evidence that the Rö runestone was painted other than the use of this word.
Rundata
The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future research...
as Bo KJ73 U, is one of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
's oldest and most notable runestones.
Description
The Rö runestone was discovered 1919 at the farm Rö on the island of Otterö north of the fishing village of GrebbestadGrebbestad
Grebbestad is a locality situated in Tanum Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It has 1,371 inhabitants in 2005, though this number can increase by as much as ten-fold during the summer. Grebbestad is known for the large number of restaurants, especially those specializing in seafood...
in Bohuslän
Bohuslän
' is a Swedish traditional province, or landskap, situated in Götaland on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea to the west, and the county of Østfold in Norway to the north...
. It is presently erected near the location where it was found.
The stone is made of granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
and it is 2 metres tall and more than 1.2 metres wide. The inscription has been made on a flat surface which unfortunately is damaged due to flaking. The runes are engraved in four parallel rows running from top to bottom. The runes are in the elder futhark
Elder Futhark
The Elder Futhark is the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic tribes for Northwest Germanic and Migration period Germanic dialects of the 2nd to 8th centuries for inscriptions on artifacts such as jewellery, amulets, tools, weapons and runestones...
and the language is Proto-Norse with preserved declensions and intermediate vowels that would much later be lost when the language turned into Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
. The form of the runes suggest that it dates from the early 5th century and it is consequently the longest inscription from a period earlier than the 7th century.
Since the location of this runestone is near a sailing route, it is possible that this runic inscription was made by visitors and not by locals.
The name Stainawarijaz in the text means "Stone Guard" or "Keeper of Stones." In addition, the word fahido, often translated as "carved" or "inscribed," actually means "painted." Many runestones had their inscriptions painted, although there is no direct evidence that the Rö runestone was painted other than the use of this word.
Transcription of the runes
- ek hra(z)az/hra(þ)az satido -tain ¶ ana----(r) ¶ swabaharjaz ¶ s-irawidaz ¶ ... stainawarijaz fahido
Transliteration
- Ek Hrazaz/Hraþaz satido [s]tain[a] ... Swabaharjaz s[a]irawidaz. ... Stainawarijaz fahido.
Translation
- I, Hrazaz/Hraþaz raised the stone ... Swabaharjaz with wide wounds. ... Stainawarijaz carved.