[gothic-l] Evidence of East Germanic in Scandinavian Inscriptions

[Tore Gannholm]

I have some photos of the Kylver stone from Stånga Gotland on

http://www.stavgard.com/Gotland/historia_/kylverstenen/default.htm

Tore


>Further to the discussion on Gothic runes:
>
>
>Looijenga (Looijenga, T, 'Runes around the North Sea and on the
>Continent AD 150-700, Texts & Contexts,' Doctoral Dissertation,
>Groningen 1997) mentions the possibility of East Gmc forms in the
>following runic inscriptions of Scandinavian provenance (references
>here to chapter & number of object in Looijenga, 1997) -
>
>5-17 Udby, Sealand (silver rosette fibula), TALGIDA : LAMO
>6-8 Darum, Jutland (bracteate), ALU NIUJIL
>6-14 Gurfiles, Gotland (bracteate), LAThAA
>
>- commenting that LAMO could be a West Gmc masculine n-stem, or and
>East Gmc feminine n-stem (but why not feminine and North Gmc?!), but
>that TALGIDA is East Gmc.
>Looijenga contrasts NIUJIL with the Skonanger bracteate spelling
>NIUWILA, apparently the West Gmc equivalent.
>LAThA is considered East Gmc on account of the -A, instead of the
>usual Proto-Norse LAThU 'invitation' - a very common word on the
>bracteates with possible cultic significance.
>
>However, other names in -o are not considered specifically East Gmc -
>whether ?feminine (HARISO (Himlingøje), LEThRO (Staarup), or ?
>masculine (WAGNIJO (Vimose), NIThIJO (Illerup)) - the masculine
>names, if such they are, being West Gmc n-stems according to
>Looijenga.
>
>
>Koebler (Koebler, G, 'Gotisches Wörterbuch', 2. Auflage 1989)
>lists
>the following possible East Gmc forms:
>
>Moos, Gotland (spearhead, 3rd c. (But 2nd according to Looijenga;
>2nd, according to the site Tore mentioned "but perhaps around 300")),
>GAOIS, _*gaujis_, 'barker?'
>Etelhem, Sweden (fibula), MKMRLAWRT?
>
>The transcription of that latter comes from Moltke (Moltke,
>E, 'Runerne i Danmark og deres oprindelse', Forum, Copenhagen 1976,
>p. 94).  The first I guess is included because of the final -S as
>opposed to Proto-Norse -Z.  I think Koebler included Etelhem because
>that final question mark might be an A.  Moltke considers the
>interpretation:
>
>M(I)K M(E)R(I)LA W(O)RTA
>
>But, guessing that the M rune might here stand for the similarly
>shaped E, he inclines more towards:
>
>EK ER(I)LA(Z) W(O)RTA
>
>I'm not sure whether his replacement of the A with a question mark is
>due to uncertainly of what rune is actually written, or
>because "verbet skulle ende paa -o."  He also says that the East Gmc
>features seen in inscriptions from Vimose and elsewhere all rest on
>not very convincing interpretations (p. 106).  Presumably this
>applies to -
>
>Vimose.  Looijenga 5.10 is a bronze buckle which reads: AADAGASU
>LAASAUWIJA.  Krause's interpretation does seem to be in terms of
>Gothic: _A(nsu) a(n)dag a(n)sula a(n)sau wija_, "Ase! Den Andag weihe
>ich, der kleine Ase, dem Asen (Wodan)", that is, "God!  I, Ansula,
>consecrate Andag to the god."
>Looijenga herself interprets this as: _Andag Ansulaas, auwija!
>_, "Andag the Godless, luck!"  The -uw- of the final word being noted
>as evidence of West Gmc gemination.  The smoothing of the diphthong -
>is there any parallel for this in Norse so early? - is not discussed.
>Seebold suggested a connection with Latin ansula/ansa ring, and OI
>aes < ansjo 'hole for a cord' - perhaps the inscription refers to the
>buckle.
>
>
>So yes, Moltke has a point.  It seems a bit of a leap to assume East
>Gmc influence on the basis of just one unexpected vowel in an
>unstressed ending, in one inscription, especially when other
>unexpected forms need a different explanation (e.g. L5-16 the
>Nøvling
>fibula: _talgidai_; Moltke, pps. 97-98).  Moltke accounts for the
>many anomalous forms - which he considers mistakes - with the idea
>that most smiths were illiterate and only copying their runes.  Aside
>from the errors themselves, he points to the verb _talgjan_ 'to cut
>in wood', suggesting that the real runemaster would give the smith a
>piece of wood with runes to use as a guide.  Similarly, he says,
>_faihjan_ > _fahjan_ 'paint' is inappropriate to the context of
>carving in gold, but might refer to the original runes painted by the
>expert on some other material as a guide.
>This would explain a lot.  On the other hand, it's not impossible
>that these words acquired a specialist meaning in the context of
>runes.  And of course, spotting mistakes offers just as much leeway
>for shoehorning as does the hunt for archaic or exotic forms.
>But is there a way of 'testing' Moltke's idea?  I wonder whether
>runes on less costly materials, or in a more casual context (if such
>can be established), show fewer anomalies.
>
>Finally, I don't know if this is a comprehensive list, so if anyone
>can add to it - perhaps with more convincing examples?! - I'd be very
>interested.  Scandinavian items so far from:
>
>Darum
>Etelhem
>Gurfiles
>Moos
>Udby
>Vimose (bronze buckle).
>
>Of these, Moos seems the most convincing.  Maybe it's Norse and the -
>S is a genitive ending, but on balance I think it's probably
>nominative and Gothic.
>
>Llama Nom
>
>********************************************
>Koebler, G, 'Gotisches Wörterbuch', 2. Auflage 1989
>Looijenga, T, 'Runes around the North Sea and on the Continent AD 150-
>700, Texts & Contexts,' Doctoral Dissertation, Groningen 1997
>Moltke, E, 'Runerne i Danmark og deres oprindelse', Forum, Copenhagen
>1976, p. 94
>
>
>
>
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