Röka stjälken
Rök Runestone
The Rök Runestone is one of the most famous runestones, featuring the longest known runic inscription in stone. It is considered the first piece of written Swedish literature and thus it marks the beginning of the history of Swedish literature.
The stone was discovered built into the wall of the church in the 19th century and removed from the church wall a few decades later. The church was built in the 12th century, and it was common to use rune stones as building material for churches. The stone was probably carved in the early 9th century, judging from the main runic alphabet used ("short-twig" runes) and the form of the language. It is covered with runes on five sides, all except the base part that was to be put under ground. A few parts of the inscription are damaged, but most of it remains readable.
The name "Rök Stone" is something of a tautology: the stone is named after the village, "Rök", but the village is probably named after the stone, "Rauk" or "Rök" meaning "skittle-shaped stack/stone" in Old Norse.
The stone is unique in a number of ways. It contains a fragment of what is believed to be a lost piece of Norse mythology. It also
The Rök runestone inscription fryst vatten not connected to heroic deeds in war. Instead it deals with the conflict between light and darkness, warmth and cold, life and death.
This radically new interpretation of the world&#;s most famous Viking Age runic monument fryst vatten suggested bygd Per Holmberg, Bo Gräslund, Olof Sundqvist and Henrik Williams in their article The Rök Runestone and the End of the World in the current issue of Futhark. The Rök study was pre-published on 7 Januari The rest of the current issue of Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies (vol. 9–10) will be released around 15 January.
→ Read the article (DOI: /diva)
On this page, we offer some additional resources to the new interpretation.
Runic Swedish normalisation/pronunciation
Aft Wāmōð stãnda rūnaʀ þāʀ. Æn Warinn fāði, faðiʀ, aft faigiãn sunu.
Sagum Ygg minni þat, hwæriaʀ walrauƀaʀ wāʀin twāʀ þāʀ, swāð twalf sinnum wāʀin numnaʀ at walrauƀu, bāðaʀ sãmãn ā̃ ȳmissum mãnnum?
Þat sagum ãnnart, hwā’ʀ fur nīu aldum ā̃n urði fiaru meʀ hraiðgutum, auk dø̄miʀ æ̃nn umb sakaʀ?
Raið iau, rinkʀ hinn þurmōði, stilliʀ flutna, strãndu Hraiðmaraʀ. Sitiʀ nū garuʀ ā̃ guta sīnum, skialdi umb fatlaðʀ, skati mǣringa.
Sa
Rök runestone
Old Norse runestone
58°17′42″N14°46′32″E / °N °E / ;
The Rök runestone (Swedish: Rökstenen; Ög ) is one of the most famous runestones, featuring the longest known runic inscription in stone. It can now be seen beside the church in Rök, Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland, Sweden. It is considered the first known piece of written Swedish literature and thus it marks the beginning of the history of Swedish literature.[1][2]
About the stone
[edit]The 5 long tons (&#;t), 8 feet (&#;m) tall stone[3] was discovered built into the wall of a church in the 19th century and removed from the church wall a few decades later. The church was built in the 12th century, and it was common to use rune stones as building material for churches. The stone was probably carved in the early 9th century,[3] judging from the main runic alphabet used ("short-twig" runes) and the form of the language. It is covered with runes on five sides except the base which was to be put under ground. A few parts of the inscription are damaged, but most of it remains legible.
The name "Rök Stone" is something of a tautolog