Re: The Kensington Runestone - Swedish text

Maybe I haven't read every post or paper on KRS thouroughly, but I've seen
the thing in person...

The characters do not conform to the expected evolution of rune epigraphy:

1. The toplines, waistlines and base lines are well adhered to. Characters,
even unusual varaties, are consistent through the document - suggesting not
only a literate, but a highly practiced scribe. That practice, however, need
not be practice with runes.
2. The document format is very Roman. Line breaks and consistent direction
suggest the scribe had a formal education based on Roman typographical
standards.
3. The runic characters include Elder and Younger period characters and some
unusual variations of the scribes invention. Something extremely rare and
even unique to a Runic inscription made post-Viking Age. The scribe was
familiar with all of these scripts, yet chose to use a futhark of his own
making. This may suggest forgery or a unique scribe in the 14th century who
was 'making a statement'.
4. Punctuation is sparse. No explanation.
5. There is no instance of a final R rune. Instead the default R-rune is
used. Highly unusual.
6. Runic characters are inscribed beside numerals. Unusual for a Rune
inscription.
7. The dedication of the inscription does not follow Viking Age or earlier
traditions that are known. The incription dates itself to 1362, which may be
an explanation, but again the mixture of modern with ancient is unusual.
8. I find it extremely unusual for a 14th century scribe at this level of
education (or higher) would choose to inscribe in a unique futhark rather
than a latin-derived variant.
9. The time necessary to inscribe this stone would be approximately 8-32
hours - dependant upon tools, conditions, and professionalism of the scribe.

By this analysis, I suspect the inscription to be a forgery - even if a
skilled/educated one.

And am I the only one confused about how an expedition of 8 Goths and 22
Norwegians could leave an inscription in Swedish? Better yet, exactly who
called themselves 'Goths' in the 14th century? Sounds like 19th century
romanticism to me.

Just my two cents.

-Laz
Principal/Creative Director
Valkyrie Design Group, Inc.
Graphic Design Studios
http://www.valkyriedesign.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <sjuler@...>
To: <norse_course@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 8:37 PM
Subject: [norse_course] Re: The Kensington Runestone - Swedish text



> Ideally, I should have liked to see the text transcribed
> to modern Swedish. Unfortunately I am totally incapable of
> writing any Swedish that even approximates a correct spelling.
> Fortunately, on the other hand, after I switched to LINUX, I
> have access to spelling checkers in all the languages of the
> world. Hence, activating the LINUX Swedish spell-checker, I
> was able to produce the following text, that to me at least
> *looks* Swedish. (and *feels* Swedish too) But is definitly
> in need of a *real* Swede to look it over.
> -------------------
> A:
> 8 göter och 22 norrmän på upptäcksfärd från vinland
> i väst vi hade lager ved 2 skär en dags resa norr från
> denna sten vi var ock fiske en dag efter vi kom hem fann 10
> man röde av blod och döda AVM frälse av illa
> B:
> har 10 män vid havet att se efter våra skepp 14 dags
> resor från denna ö år 1362
> ----------------------------

The spell-checker method was not too successful here. Here is a
supposed translation to Modern Swedish of the text (slightly modified
version the one found at
http://www.historiska.se/exhibitions/kensington/sv/art_runor.html ):

********************************
A:
8 göter och 22 norrmän [är] på [denna] upptagelsefärd från vinland
[långt] västerut vi hade läger vid 2 skydd en dags resa norr från
denna sten vi var och fiskade en dag efter vi kom hem fann 10
man röda av blod och död AVM fräls från ondo
B:
har 10 män vid havet att se efter våra skepp 14 dagar
resa från denna ö år 1362
********************************

It should be noted that "upptagelsefärd" is not found in any Swedish
dictionary (I think), but the construction is easily understood by
most 21th century swedes.


/Sjuler



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