Haugen: "The inscriptions of the earliest period are remarkably
homogeneous both in content and language, which could well be due to
their common geographical origin, as suggested (see Map 5). (Note:
Haugen is refering to a map showing the distribution of inscriptions
in the older runes) In this belligerent period we are not surprised
to find five inscribed spearblades in widely scattered places:
Norway (Övre Stabu), Gotland (Mos), Prussia (Dahmsdorf), Poland
(Rozwadów) and Ukraine (Kowel). (Inscriptions are named by their
place of finding.) In so far as they are decipherable, these consist
of a single word descriptive of or naming the spear: "attacker",
"runner", "tester", "screamer" (?). Other military relics are a
shield boss and a sword pommel from southern Schleswig (Torsbjerg),
a sword knob and a sheath ornament from Fyn (Vimose). The Vimose
marsh find also included a wooden plane, a comb, and a buckle, while
five silver fibulas (a kind of clasp) come from Jutland (Næsbjerg,
Növling), Sjælland (Himlingöje 2, Værlöse) and Skåne (Gårdlösa). A
bronze figurine from Norway (Fröyhov) completes the third-century
material."
"All but the last (which is undecipherable) contain a proper name
or a descriptive term which may have been applied to the owner or
carver, plainly a simple object identification. Four of them have
enough words to make some kind of sentence, again referring to the
object or its owner, e.g. Mári aih Al(l)a mákija Alla owns = Alla
owns the sword, the famous one (Vimose, pommel)."
Unless this was a sword given to Muhammad by Alla himself, we can
safely assume that Al(l)a was the owner of the sword. (Note: the
convention in old runic writing was to represent double consonants
with a single letter - hence "Al(l)a"). Now for the Old Norse:
mækir m. a kind of sword; declined: mækir, mæki, mæki, mækis.
mærr adj. famous, glorious, illustrious
eiga v. to own; 1st per sg. pres. á - hann á mæki (he owns a sword)
Note: the accents written over the A´s in PrN represent long A, not
the nasal Á/Å sound of Old Norse.
ON accusative "mæki" comes from PrN accusative "mákija" by i-umlaut
(i-hljóðvarp) of A. "Ai" in "aih" was simplified to "áh"(long a) and
then later to "á"(nasal á) in Old Norse with the loss of H.
This brings us to the PrN verb "aigan", from which comes Old Norse
"eiga". This PrN verb, like others, can be produced by regular
phonological rules from Old Norse. It is also supported by evidence
from every other recorded Germanic language, as far as I can tell.
Does anyone feel brave enough to attempt a declension of the owner´s
name, the object, or the adjective describing it? How about a
conjugation of the verb? (Note: This is not a test!! I have no
answer sheet of any kind, no organized thought on the subject at
this point, and little notion of any kind about it. In short: your
guess is as good as mine.)
I posted this inscription because it is the first one quoted by
Haugen in his text. What runereader amongst you would be first to
read and the rune (and, of course, suggest a paradigm!)?