The last word is not "bann" -- it's "þann."
(It's the word "þat" -- translation: "that" -- in the Accusative case.)
The first letter is the Norse letter which represents a 'th' sound -- 'thurisaz'
in the Elder Futhark.
And no, there is no exclamation point or any other
form of punctuation that I'm aware of in Old Norse inscriptions.
Occasionally, words are separated by dots or vertical lines, but not
always. Often they just run together in one long line, just to drive
runologists insane.
I'm a little puzzled as to why you wrote each word
backwards. Most of the inscriptions I've seen are written left to right,
like modern European languages.
Jamie
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 3:42
AM
Subject: [norse_course] Re: Help with one
phrase?
Thank you very much!
I am definately looking for the
imperative, as is "tak upp hamarinn
bann" (forgive my lack of font).
If I were to inscribe that phrase,
using the Elder Futhark, would it look
like this:
/ |\ /|\
< |\ / |
\
\ | |
|\/
|\
| | |
|/\ | |
| | |\
|\ |><| |\ | |
+ | |/
|\ | | |\ |-_|
| | |\
| | | | | |
| |
|\ |\ /|
| + |\ | >< |
.
| | |/ \|
(I again apologize... Yahoo Groups
doesn't support runic fonts, does
it?)
I'm not sure if the first
letter of the last word is actually a form
of "b" or "d/dh", or if the
exclamation point actually exists in
ancient runic
inscriptions.
Thanks
again,
Pete