The Eggja stone is a grave stone that was ploughed up in 1917 on the farm of that name, in Sogndal, parish of Sogn, Norway. It was found when to men were digging in the mudd. Year 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... County Sogn og Fjordane District Sogn Municipality NO-1420 Administrative centre Eggja Mayor (2003) Kent Fimreite (Kp) Official language form Nynorsk Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 146 746 km² 736 km² 0. ... Sogn is a landscape in the western part of Norway, surrounding Sognefjorden. ...

It has a long runic inscription in Old West Scandinavian, the language of the Eddic Lays; it was dated by Professor Haakon Shetelig to the first half of the 8th century. The text seems to be a magic protection against desecration of the stone, containing allusions to a mythological background. Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ... The Poetic Edda or Elder Edda is a term applied to two things. ... Haakon Shetelig (1877-1955) was a Norwegian archaeologist. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ...

With ca. 200 characters, it is the longest known text in the Old Futhark. The text is arranged in three panels, separated by ornamental engravings (a stylized horse's head). The Elder Futhark (or Older Futhark, Old Futhark) are the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic peoples of the 2nd to 7th centuries for inscriptions on artefacts (jewellery, amulets, tools, weapons) and rune stones. ...

Text

• Panel 1:

nissolusotuknisaksestain

skorinni????maRnak danisniþ

rinRniwiltiRmanRlagi??

??????galande

• Panel 2:

hinwarbnaseumaRmadeþaim

kaibaibormoþahunihuwaRob

kamharasahialatgotnafiskR

oRf??na uimsuwimadefokl?f?

• Panel 3:

a?????surki

Which, rendered in standardized Norse spelling, is:

• Panel 1:

Ni's sólu sótt ok ni saxe stæin skorinn.

Ni (læggi) mannR nækðan, is niþ rinnR,

Ni viltiR mænnR læggi ax.

• Panel 2:

Hin(n) varp *náséo mannR, máðe þæim kæipa í bormóþa húni.

HuæaR of kam hæráss á hi á land gotna.

FiskR óR f(ir)na uim suim(m)ande, fogl á f??????? galande.

• Panel 3:

Alu misyrki

One suggested translation:

• Panel 1:

No sun sought and no sax stone scarred

No man lay it nude as the niþ runs

No bewildered men lay it aside

Suggested interpretation: The stone has been prepared in accordance with tradition; the stone is untouched by sunlight, and not cut with iron. It should not be uncovered during the waning moon, and should not be removed from its place. Look up sax in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

• Panel 2:

Hither stone the man stained with corpse-sea, made thus oarpins in the bearing-worn boat

Whom as came harrier-god here to goð 's land?

Fishlike, out of river-fear swimming, as bird, our of f(?) crowing

Someone has stained this stone with blood (kenned as corpse-sea); perhaps as part of a sacrifice to facilitate the passage of the deceased or call on whatever power the inscription is addressed to. The hæráss is the "god of armies" - a psychopomp god which comes to the land of the living (godly ones) to take the deceased to an afterlife. Most likely the shapeshifting, shamanic Ås Odin is meant, but the christian god has absorbed this kenning in later norse poetry. In literature, a kenning is a compound poetic phrase, a figure of speech, substituted for the usual name of a person or thing. ... Many sets of religious beliefs have a particular spirit, deity, demon or angel whose responsibility is to escort newly-deceased souls to the afterlife, such as Heaven or Hell. ... In Old Norse, the Æsir (singular Ás, feminine Ásynja, feminine plural Ásynjur, Anglo-Saxon Ós, from Proto-Germanic *Ansuz) are the principal gods of the pantheon of Norse mythology. ... For other meanings of Odin, Woden or Wotan see Odin (disambiguation), Woden (disambiguation), Wotan (disambiguation). ...

• Panel 3:

ALU the misworker

The meaning of the ALU formula is uncertain, as are the runes spelling it out. It could be an iconographic or a regular abbreviation, or a mix of the two. The runes Ása-Laukr-Ur might be read as a blessing of or ward against miscreant(s), but this presupposes the not undisputed and somewhat poorly supported theory claiming that runes were used as part of folk magic and divinatory practices, and that their iconic meaning had significance beyond mnemonics in this respect. It might also be a word in itself, translating as "ale". Beer or mead played an important part in norse ritual, both as sacrifice and beverage. Thus the word doubles as the word for festivities and public ritual.

Meter

Panel 2 has been suggested to contain a stanza in the Galdralag meter, i.e.: Old Norse poetry encompasses a range of verse forms written in a number of Nordic languages, embraced by the term Old Norse, during the period from the 8th century to as late as the far end of the 13th century. ...

HuæaR of kam hæráss á

hi á land gotna.

FiskR óR f(ir)na uim suim(m)ande,

fogl á f??????? galande.

Whom as came harrier-god

here to goð 's land?

Fishlike, out of river-fear swimming,

as fowl, out of f(?) crowing

The inscription loosely follows the pattern of the Merseburg Incantations, divided into two complementary parts, but where the Merseburger invokes a mythic event and calls for an exorcistic repetition, the Eggja composer seems to twice invoke a ritual, the first time listing two desired outcomes, in the second instance asking a question and answering it. Both inscriptions may represent some of the few remaining examples of pre-christian ljoð or galdr, ritual verse chanted by the cult leaders, shamans or oracles of Norse Scandinavia. The Merseburg Incantations The Merseburg Incantations (German: die Merseburger Zaubersprüche) are two medieval magic formulae or incantations, written in Old High German. ...

See also

• Joint Nordic database for runic inscriptions
• Rune stone

The Joint Nordic database for runic inscriptions or Pan-Nordic Runic Text Database or Rundata is a project at Uppsala University which was started January 1, 1993. ... A rune stone in Lund Rune stones are stones with runic inscriptions dating from the early Middle Ages but are found to have been used most prominently during the Viking Age. ...

External links

• http://www.nordic-life.org/nmh/runic.htm
• http://www.arild-hauge.com

Literature

M. Olsen, 'Norges Indskrifter med de ældre Runer' (Christiania), Vol. III, pt. 2.