Re: [tied] What language is this?

----- Original Message -----

From: tgpedersen

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2002 12:09 PM

Subject: [tied] What language is this?

> Inscription in runic alphabet on wooden object, found in Vimose bog, Fyn:
> talijo [hole] gisaioj:wilizhlas??
> reverse:
> tkpis:hllauno:an  regu

 

The usual transcription of Vimose IV is:

 

talijo gisaioj : wilizailao???

t??is : hleuno : an? : regu

 

Some of the words are recognisable. The object is a plane for sharpening points of wooden spears, so a natural interpretation of the first word is *tal(g)ijo: 'plane' (from *talgijan 'carve, cut'). The second word is likely to be the owner's name (probably *Gi:saijo:). <hleuno> means 'protection'. The rest of the inscription is too corrupt to be interpretable.

 

 

> belt buckle, approx 200 CE
> aadagasu
> laasauwija

 

[Vimose III]

One quite plausible reading (among many) is <A(n)dag(az) a(n)su-la(u)s, auwija> 'Andag the Godless, (for) luck', but it has also been suggested that the sequence <asu / la> is the name of the object, cf. Latin ansa 'handle, ring', dimin. ansula, hence perhaps a Germanic 'buckle' word. The truth is, almost anything can be read into a brief inscription like this one, except perhaps for <auwija>/<auja> 'good fortune', which occurs in other inscriptions and appears to be formulaic.

 

Piotr