[gothic-l] Re: Crimean runes

[llama_nom]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "Troels Brandt" <trbrandt at p...> 
wrote:

> I am not the right to answer and llama has answered the linquistc 
> part.


Far from it: I haven´t answered anything, only suggested some more 
questions!  I just tried to give a summary of what sort of 
inscriptions have been found so far that are attributed to East 
Germanic peoples such as the Goths and Heruls.  Anything else is 
pure speculation on my part.

Troels mentions the idea of runes used as ideographs, standing for 
the concept represented by the name of the rune 
(called "Begriffsrunen" in German, "begrepsruner" in Norwegian, 
which term is sometimes translated "concept runes" in English).  
That´s something I hadn´t thought of, but an interesting possibility 
to consider.  The technique is probably used in some Scandinavian 
inscriptions predating the Viking Age (e.g. Stentoften & Gummarp), 
and it is attested somewhat later in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, but 
there are many inscriptions where the use of concept runes is 
disputed, or impossible to prove.  There is one widely accepted 
example of a concept rune in an inscription considered to be Gothic: 
the Pietroassa ring, found in Romania.  Here, as at Stentoften, the 
ideograph as part of a text which otherwise is spelt out in full--
rather than a series of initials.

Here is a quote from JH Looijenga's book "Runes Around the North 
Sea...", she is talking about finds from before the Viking period:

"Personally I have difficulties determining when and if an 
ideographic rune (or Begriffsrune) was used, since the runewriters' 
criteria for using them are unknown to us. There is at least
one clear instance of the use of an ideographic rune: the single j 
rune on the Stentoften stone, representing its name *jara 
meaning `good year' = harvest. The peculiar use of this ideograph
is further emphasized by the fact that it was carved in an archaic 
fashion. The h in Thorsberg aisgzh may or may not be such a 
Begriffsrune, there is no graphic peculiarity (h has no
archaic forerunner), but, in Antonsen's interpretation, it could 
symbolize its name on syntactic grounds. In some other cases, 
isolated runes may be read as abbreviations, such as the r in the
Sievern bracteate, which apparently denotes r[unoz]. Single runes 
may have been read as abbreviations in the oldest inscriptions, and 
may later on have come to represent the symbolic meaning of the 
rune's name."

http://www.ub.rug.nl/eldoc/dis/arts/j.h.looijenga/


Needless to say, with a whole series of abbreviations, it would be 
very hard to narrow down the possible interpretations.  If they 
stood for the concepts embodied in the rune names, it's easy to 
think up symbolic interpretations, but hard if not impossible to 
test them.

Llama Nom





------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease?
Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/rkgkPB/UOnJAA/Zx0JAA/wWMplB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

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

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gothic-l/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    gothic-l-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

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