Westeremden yew-stick
Encyclopedia
The Westeremden yew-stick is a yew
Taxus
Taxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m...

-wood stick found in Westeremden B in the Groningen
Groningen (province)
Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...

 province of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 in 1917 that bears an Old Frisian
Old Frisian
Old Frisian is a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries in the area between the Rhine and Weser on the European North Sea coast. The Frisian settlers on the coast of South Jutland also spoke Old Frisian but no medieval texts of this area are known...

 Futhorc inscription.


Runes with unfamiliar shapes or uncertain values are:
  • , a Spiegelrune of , similar to a variant of stan, transliterated as B below
  • , a Spiegelrune of , similar to a variant of stan, transliterated as P below
  • , like Younger Futhark
    Younger Futhark
    The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...

     kaun, transliterated as K below (like Anglo-Saxon cen, occurring three times); it apparently represents a vowel, likely æ, replacing absent æsc (like Younger Futhark ar), transliterated as A below, a "bookhand-s", transliterated as S below, like a short-twig n, probably for n


with these decisions, the transliteration may be:
ophæmujiBAdaæmluþ:
wimœBæhþuSA
iwioKuPdunale:


Seebold (1990) reads (transliterating g for j, v for B, ë for A, ô for œ):
ophæmu givëda amluþ:iwi ok upduna (a)le wimôv æh þusë


Looijenga (1997) reads:
op hæmu jibada æmluþ : iwi ok up duna (a)le wimœd æh þusa


Interpreted as something like "luck (amluþ) stays (gibada) at home (op hæmu); and (ok) at the yew (iw
Eihwaz
Eiwaz or Eihaz was a Proto-Germanic word for "yew", and the reconstructed name of the rune ....

i
) may it grow (ale) on the hill (up duna); Wimœd has (æh) this (þusa)." or "at the homestead stays good fortune, may it also grow near the yew on the terp; Wimœd owns this."

For paleographical
Palaeography
Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...

 reasons (the bookhand-s and Younger Futhark
Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...

influence), Looijenga dates the stick to after AD 750.
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