Öpir
Encyclopedia
Runemaster
A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones.Most early medieval Scandinavians were probably literate in runes, and most people probably carved messages on pieces of bone and wood. However, it was difficult to make runestones, and in order to master it one also needed to be a...
who flourished during the late 11th century and early 12th century in Uppland
Uppland
Uppland is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea...
, 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....
. He was the most productive of all the old runemasters and his art is classified as being in the highly refined Urnes style
Urnes style
The Urnes style was the last phase of Scandinavian animal art during the second half of the 11th century and in the early 12th century. The preceding phases of Scandinavia's Viking Age animal ornamentation are usually categorized as Oseberg style, Borre style, Jelling style, Mammen style and...
.
Work
During the 11th century, when most runestones were raised, there were a few professional runemasters. They and their apprentices were contracted to make runestones and when the work was finished, they usually signed the stone with the name of the runemaster.Öpir had been an associate or an apprentice of the runemaster Visäte
Visäte
Visäte was a runemaster who was active during the last half of the eleventh century in southern Uppland, Sweden.-Work:...
. He has signed about 50 runestones, and an additional 50 runestones were probably made by him. He was active mostly in southern and eastern Uppland, but there are stones made by him also in Gästrikland
Gästrikland
' is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Uppland, Västmanland, Dalarna, Hälsingland and the Gulf of Bothnia. Gästrikland is the southernmost of the Norrland provinces....
and Södermanland
Södermanland
', sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanland and Uppland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea.In Swedish, the province name is...
.
It is a characteristic of his runestones that there is a single rune serpent in the shape of an 8. Moreover, the style is characterized by elegance and control in the complex intervolutions of the rune serpents.
His name Öpir was probably originally a nickname as it means "shouter," and used as his sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
. On one runestone, U 485
Uppland Runic Inscription 485
Uppland Runic Inscription 485 or U 485 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age memorial runestone that is located in Marma, which is about six kilometers northeast of Knivsta, Uppsala County, Sweden, which was in the historic province of Uppland....
in Marma, he gives his full name: OfæigR ØpiR.
Language and runes
The Old NorseOld 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....
of Öpir was special as the h phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
does not appear to have been part of his language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
, and not mastering where to use it, he is known to have added
, the Younger FutharkYounger 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...
rune for the h phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
, where it usually did not belong. Some instances of this misspelling are huaru (varu), hustr/huastr (austr or vestr), hut (ut) and Huikiar (the personal name Vigæir). The loss of the initial h phoneme before vowel
Vowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s and its use in the beginning of words where it usually does not appear is a dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
trait still typical of Roslagen
Roslagen
Roslagen is the name of the coastal areas of Uppland province in Sweden, which also constitutes the northern part of the Stockholm archipelago....
(eastern Uppland), where Öpir was active.
However, recent research presents him as a consistent and careful speller with very few language errors, and based on this reinterpretation of his language skills, the different ways he spelled his own name have led to a hypothesis that there were two runemasters named Öpir.
Signed inscriptions
With the question regarding whether there was more than one runemaster named Öpir, one scholar accepted the following 46 signed inscriptions as being made by Öpir: Sö 308 in Vid Järnavägen, U 23 in Hilleshögs, U 36 in Svartsjö Djurgård, U 104 in Eds, U 118 in Älvsunda, the now-lost U 122 in Järva Krog, U 142 in Fällbro, the now-lost U 168 in Björkeby, U 179 in Riala, U 181Uppland Runic Inscription 181
Uppland Runic Inscription 181 or U 181 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age memorial runestone located at Össeby-Garn, which is about one kilometer east of Karby, Uppsala County, Sweden.-Description:...
in Össeby-Garn, U 210 in Åsta, U 229 in Gällsta, the now-lost U 262 in Fresta, U 279 in Skälby, U 287 and U 288 in Vik, U 307 in Ekeby, the now-lost U 315 in Harg, U 462 in Prästgården, U 485
Uppland Runic Inscription 485
Uppland Runic Inscription 485 or U 485 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age memorial runestone that is located in Marma, which is about six kilometers northeast of Knivsta, Uppsala County, Sweden, which was in the historic province of Uppland....
in Marma, U 489 in Morby, U 541 and U 544 in Husby-Lyhundra, the now-lost U 565 in Ekeby Skog, U 566 in Vällingsö, U 687 in Sjusta, U 880 in Skogstibble, U 893 in Högby, U 898 in Norby, U 922 and now-lost U 926 in Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral
Uppsala Cathedral is a cathedral located centrally in the city of Uppsala, Sweden. It dates back to the late 13th century and at a height of 118.7 m is the tallest church building in Scandinavia. Originally built under Roman Catholicism and used for coronations of the Swedish monarch, since the...
, U 961
Vaksala Runestone
The Vaksala Runestone, designated as U 961 under the Rundata catalog, is a Viking Age memorial runestone that is located in Vaksala parish near Uppsala, Sweden.-Description:...
in Vaksala, U 970 in Bolsta, U 973 in Gränby, the now-lost U 984 in Ekeby, U 993
Uppland Runic Inscription 993
Uppland Runic Inscription 993 or U 993 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age memorial runestone located in Brunnby, which is one kilometer west of Gunsta, Uppsala County, Sweden, which was part of the historical province of Uppland....
in Brunnby, U 1034
Uppland Runic Inscription 1034
Uppland Runic Inscription 1034 or U 1034 is the Rundata catalog number for a runic inscription on a runestone located at the Tensta church in Uppland, Sweden, that was carved in the late 11th or early 12th century...
in Tensta, U 1063 in Källslätt, U 1072 in Bälinge, U 1100 in Sundbro, U 1106 in Äskelunda, U 1159 in Skensta, U 1177 in Hässelby, U Fv1948;168
Uppland Runic Inscription Fv1948;168
This runic inscription, designated as U Fv1948;168 in the Rundata catalog, is on a Viking Age memorial runestone to two sons that is located in Alsike, Uppsala County, Sweden, which is in the historic province of Uppland.-Description:...
in Alsike, U Fv1976;107 at Uppsalla Cathedral, and the now-lost Gs 4 in Hedesunda. Rundata
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...
lists three additional inscriptions: U 896
Uppland Runic Inscription 896
Uppland Runic Inscription 896 or U 896 is the Rundata catalog listing for a Viking Age memorial runestone originally located at Håga in the historic province of Uppland, Sweden, but is now at the Universitetsparken of Uppsala University.-Description:The inscription on U 896 consists of runic text...
in Håga and U 940 in Uppsala, both of which have text stating that Öpir "arranged the runes," and U 1022 in Storvreta. It has been suggested that these three inscriptions represent works from the beginning of Öpir's career.
Another inscription that listed by Rundata, Sö 11 in Gryts, is indicated as being signed by a second person named Öpir.
Possible identification with Russian priest
A record of Упирь (Upir' ) appears in a document dated 1047 AD. It is a colophonColophon (publishing)
In publishing, a colophon is either:* A brief description of publication or production notes relevant to the edition, in modern books usually located at the reverse of the title page, but can also sometimes be located at the end of the book, or...
in a manuscript of the Book of Psalms written by a priest who transcribed the book from Glagolitic
Glagolitic alphabet
The Glagolitic alphabet , also known as Glagolitsa, is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. The name was not coined until many centuries after its creation, and comes from the Old Slavic glagolъ "utterance" . The verb glagoliti means "to speak"...
into Cyrillic
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
for the Novgorodian Prince Vladimir Yaroslavovich
Vladimir of Novgorod
Vladimir Yaroslavich reigned as prince of Novgorod from 1036 until his death. He was the eldest son of Yaroslav I the Wise of Kiev by Ingigerd, daughter of king Olof Skötkonung of Sweden....
. The priest writes that his name is "Upir' Likhyi " (Упирь Лихый), which would mean something like "Wicked Vampire" or "Foul Vampire." This apparently strange name has been cited as an example of surviving paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
and/or of the use of nicknames as personal names. However, in 1982, Swedish Slavicist Anders Sjöberg suggested that "Upir' likhyi" was in fact an Old Russian transcription and/or translation of the name of Ofeigr Öpir. Sjöberg argued that Öpir could possibly have lived in Novgorod before moving to Sweden, considering the connection between Eastern Scandinavia and Russia at the time. This theory is still controversial, although at least one Swedish historian, Henrik Janson, has expressed support for it.