[gothic-l] The Etelhem Clasp, Gotland

[Bertil Häggman]

The Etelhem Clasp has been designated "the oldes
Gutnish language memorial". The exact spot of the
find is not known but it was in Etelhem Parish. Professor
Sophus Bugge has designated it "Gotlands aeldste
sprogminnesmaerke".

The inscription:

m k m r l a w r t a a

There are according to rune experts traces of Gothic
in this inscription. wrta could be compared to the
Got. ending waurhta (compare Ancient Nordic wurte
on the Tjurkoe brakteat (Blekinge), orte (By) and
tawide (Stenmagle).

mrla is well in accordance with the form of the Got. n-stem.
-ila- is of coourse very common in Got., especially
names such as Wulfila, Totila, Badwila etc. Butt here are
also Ancient Nordic inscriptions with similar endings: wiwila, niuwila,
frohila. The difference between Ancient Nordic and Gothic seems
at this point not to have been too great.

Maybe Wulfila would have written:

mik Merila waurhta (Me Merila made).

There is a Gothic document found in Naples (originally
from Ravenna) around 550 AD : Ik Merila bokareis
(W.Streitberg, die gotische Bibel I, 1908, p. 479).

Another interpretation is (Me Erila made) which
would then connect Etelhem to the ek erilaR-
inscriptions.

Gothically

Bertil


You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/