The Pforzen buckle is a silver belt buckle found in Pforzen, Ostallgäu. It was found in 1992 in one of the 422 Alemannic graves excavated (in grave no. 239), dating to the 6th century. It was the grave of a warrior, buried with lance, spatha, seax and shield. The buckle itself is probably of Mediterranean workmanship, maybe of a Lombard or Gepid workshop. It bears a runic inscription, incised after its manufacture: Ostallgäu is a district in Bavaria, Germany. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The term Alemannic can have several meanings. ... This Buddhist stela from China, Northern Wei period, was built in the early 6th century. ... The Spatha is a type of straight sword, measuring between 75 and 100 cm, in use throughout the 1st millennium AD. Introduced in the late Roman Empire in the 1st century AD as a cavalry weapon, the Spatha remained popular throughout the Migration period and the Viking Age, until it... Categories: Weapon stubs ... The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, from which the alternative name Longobards found in older English texts), were a Germanic people originally from Scandinavia that entered the late Roman Empire. ... The Gepids (Latin Gepidae) were a Germanic tribe most famous in history for defeating the Huns after the death of Attila. ... The 24 runes of the Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Older Futhark, Old Futhark) are the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic tribes for Proto-Norse and other Germanic dialects of the 2nd to 7th centuries for inscriptions on artefacts (jewellery, amulets, tools, weapons) and rune...

aigil andi aïlrun

ltahu gasokun

Nedoma (2004) reads this as Áigil andi Áilrun / Íltahu gasōkun, an alliterating metrical line, the oldest preserved in any West Germanic language (while the Gallehus horns inscription, roughly one century older, is considered the oldest example of a North Germanic metrical line). The line would translate to "Aigil and Ailrun fought at the Ilz river". Egil as a heroic archer is also shown, together with his wife, on the lid of the Franks Casket, which dates to approximately the same time. Egil the archer in Norse mythology is known as the brother of Weyland. West Germanic is the largest branch of the Germanic family of languages, including such languages as English, Dutch, and German. ... The Ilz is a river running through the Bavarian Forest, Germany. ... Norse or Scandinavian mythology refers to the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... Weyland (also spelled Wayland, Weland and Watlende) is the mythical smith-god of the Saxon immigrants into Britain. ...

Compare also Gunnar, the renowned bowman in the Njalssaga who defends his house against a troop of attackers, but whose wife refuses to help him, leading to his death.

References

• Robert Nedoma, Noch einmal zur Runeninschrift auf der Gürtelschnalle von Pforzen in: Alemannien und der Norden, ed. Naumann (2004), 340-370.