Rök Runestone

About

The Rök runestone (Swedish: Rökstenen; Ög 136) 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.

A reading of the Rök stone's text in Old East Norse Problems playing this file? See media help.

The 5 long tons (5.1 t), 8 feet (2.4 m) tall stone 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, 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 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 It also makes a historical reference to Ostrogothic king (effectively emperor of the western Roman empire) Theodoric the Great. It contains the longest extant pre-Christian runic inscription – around 760 characters – and it is a virtuoso display of the carver's mastery of runic expression.

The inscription is partially encrypted in two ways; by displacement ( Caesar cipher ) and by using special cipher runes. The inscription is intentionally challenging to read, using kennings in the manner of Old Norse skaldic poetry, and demonstrating the carver's command of different alphabets and writing styles (including code). The obscurity may perhaps even be part of a magic ritual.

This is a direct Unicode transliteration of the runes, as close to the scriptio continua original as possible. Ciphers are within brackets, with the resolution following the equals sign :

ᛆᚠᛏᚢᛆᛘᚢᚦᛌᛏᚭᚿᛏᛆᚱᚢᚿᛆᛧᚦᛆᛧ ᛭ ¶ ᚿᚢᛆᚱᛁᚿᚠᛆᚦᛁᚠᛆᚦᛁᛧᛆᚠᛐᚠᛆᛁᚴᛁᚭᚿᛌᚢᚿᚢ ¶ ᛌᛆᚴᚢᛘᚢᚴᛘᛁᚿᛁᚦᛆᛐᚽᚢᛆᚱᛁᛆᛧᚢᛆᛚᚱᛆᚢᛓᛆᛧᚢᛆᛧᛁᚿᛐᚢᛆᛧ ¶ ᚦᛆᛧᛌᚢᛆᚦᛐᚢᛆᛚᚠᛌᛁᚿᚢᛘᚢᛆᛧᛁᚿᚢᛘᚿᛆᛧᛐᚢᛆᛚᚱᛆᚢᛓᚢ ¶ ᛓᛆᚦᛆᛧᛌᚭᛘᚭᚿᚭᚢᛘᛁᛌᚢᛘᚭᚿᚢᛘ ᛫ ᚦᛆᛐᛌᛆᚴᚢᛘᚭᚿᛆ ¶ ᚱᛐᚽᚢᛆᛧᚠᚢᚱᚿᛁᚢᛆᛚᛐᚢᛘᚭᚿᚢᚱᚦᛁᚠᛁᛆᚱᚢ ¶ ᛘᛁᛧᚽᚱᛆᛁᚦᚴᚢᛐᚢᛘᛆᚢᚴᛐᚢ ¶ ᛘᛁᛧᚭᚿᚢᛓᛌᛆᚴᛆᛧ ¶

ᚱᛆᛁᚦᛁᛆᚢᚱᛁᚴᛧᚽᛁᚿᚦᚢᚱᛘᚢᚦᛁᛌᛐᛁᛚᛁᛧ ¶ ᚠᛚᚢᛐᚿᛆᛌᛐᚱᚭᚿᛐᚢᚽᚱᛆᛁᚦᛘᛆᚱᛆᛧᛌᛁᛐᛁᛧᚿᚢᚴᛆᚱᚢᛧᚭ ¶ ᚴᚢᛐᛆᛌᛁᚿᚢᛘᛌᚴᛁᛆᛚᛐᛁᚢᛓᚠᛆᛐᛚᛆᚦᛧᛌᚴᛆᛐᛁᛘᛆᚱᛁᚴᛆ ¶

ᚦᛆᛐᛌᛆᚴᚢᛘᛐᚢᛆᛚᚠᛐᛆᚽᚢᛆᚱᚽᛁᛌᛐᛧᛌᛁᚴᚢ ¶ ᚿᛆᛧᛁᛐᚢᛁᛐᚢᚭᚴᛁᚭᚿᚴᚢᚿᚢᚴᛆᛧᛐᚢᛆᛁᛧᛐᛁᚴᛁᛧᛌᚢᛆ ¶ ᚦᚭᛚᛁᚴᛁᛆ ᛭ ᚦᛆᛐᛌᛆᚴᚢᛘᚦᚱᛁᛐᛆᚢᚿᛐᛆᚽᚢᛆᚱᛁᛧᛐ ¶ ᚢᛆᛁᛧᛐᛁᚴᛁᛧᚴᚢᚿᚢᚴᛆᛧᛌᛆᛐᛁᚿᛐᛌᛁᚢᛚᚢᚿᛐᛁᚠᛁᛆ ¶ ᚴᚢᚱᛆᚢᛁᚿᛐᚢᚱᛆᛐᚠᛁᛆᚴᚢᚱᚢᛘᚿᛆᛓᚿᚢᛘᛓᚢᚱᚿ ¶ ᛧᚠᛁᛆᚴᚢᚱᚢᛘᛓᚱᚢᚦᚱᚢᛘ ᛭ ᚢᛆᛚᚴᛆᛧᚠᛁᛘᚱᛆ=ᚦᚢᛚᚠᛌᚢ ¶ ᚿᛁᛧᚽᚱᛆᛁᚦᚢᛚᚠᛆᛧᚠᛁᛘᚱᚢᚴᚢᛚᚠᛌᚢᚿᛁᛧᚽᚭᛁᛌᛚᛆᛧᚠᛁᛘᚽᛆᚱᚢᚦ ¶ ᛌᛌᚢᚿᛁᛧᚴᚢᚿᛘᚢᚿᛐᛆᛧᚠᛁᛘ(ᛓ)ᛁᚱᚿᛆᛧᛌᚢᚿᛁᛧ ¶ ᚿᚢᚴᛘ---(ᛘ)-- ᛆᛚᚢ --(ᚴ)(ᛁ)ᛆᛁᚿᚽᚢᛆᛧ-ᚦ......ᚦ... × ᚠᛐᛁᛧᚠᚱᛆ ¶

ᛋᛃᚷᚹᛗᛟᚷᛗᛖᚿᛇ[3:3 = ᚦ]ᛃᛞᚺᛟᛃᛦᛇᚷᛟᛚᛞ ¶ ᚷᛃᛟᛃᛦᛇᚷᛟᛚᛞᛁᚿᛞᚷᛟᚭᚿᛃᛦᚺᛟᛋᛚᛇ ¶

[ᛆᛁᚱᚠᛓᚠᚱᛓᚿᚽᚿᚠᛁᚿᛓᛆᚿᛐᚠᚭᚿᚽᚿᚢ ᛌᛆᚴᚢᛙᚢᚴᛙᛁᚿᛁᚢᛆᛁᛙᛌᛁᛓᚢᚱᛁᚿᛁᚦ] ¶ ᛧᛐᚱᚭᚴᛁᚢᛁᛚᛁᚿᛁᛌᚦᛆᛐ ᛭ [ᚱᚽᚠᚦᚱᚽᛁᛌ: ᚴᚿᚢᚭᚴᚾᛆᛐ] ¶ ᛁᛆᛐᚢᚿᚢᛁᛚᛁᚿᛁᛌᚦᛆᛐ ᛭ [2:2 ᚿ] [2:3: ᛁ] [1:1 = ᛐ] ¶

[3:2 ᚢ] [1:4: ᛚ] ¶ [2:2 ᚿ] [2:3: ᛁ] ¶ [3:5 ᚱ] [3:2: ᚢ]ᚦᛧ ¶ [2:5 ᛌ] [2:3: ᛁ]ᛓᛁ ¶ [3:2 ᚢ] [2:3: ᛁ]ᛆ ¶ [3:2 ᚢ] [2:4: ᛆ]ᚱᛁ ¶

([2:5 ᛌ]) [2:4: ᛆ] [3:6 ᚴ] [3:2: ᚢ] [1:3 ᛙ] [3:2: ᚢ] [3:6 ᚴ] [1:3: ᛙ] [2:3 ᛁ] [2:2: ᚿ] [2:3 ᛁ] ¶ [3:3: ᚦ] [3:2 ᚢ] [3:5: ᚱ]

This is a transliteration of the runes, with ciphers resolved and spaces added between word boundaries:

aft uamuþ stąnta runaʀ þaʀ ᛭ ¶ n uarin faþi faþiʀ aft faikiąn sunu ¶ sakum| |mukmini þat huariaʀ ualraubaʀ uaʀin tuaʀ ¶ þaʀ suaþ tualf sinum uaʀin| |numnaʀ t ualraubu ¶ baþaʀ sąmąn ą umisum| |mąnum · þat sakum ąna¶rt huaʀ fur niu altum ąn urþi fiaru ¶ miʀ hraiþkutum auk tu ¶ miʀ ąn ub sakaʀ ¶

raiþ| |þiaurikʀ hin þurmuþi stiliʀ ¶ flutna strąntu hraiþmaraʀ sitiʀ nu karuʀ ą ¶ kuta sinum skialti ub fatlaþʀ skati marika ¶

þat sakum tualfta huar histʀ si ku¶naʀ itu| |uituąki ąn kunukaʀ tuaiʀ tikiʀ sua¶þ ą likia ᛭ þat sakum þritaunta huariʀ t¶uaiʀ tikiʀ kunukaʀ satin t siulunti fia¶kura uintur at fiakurum nabnum burn¶ʀ fiakurum bruþrum ᛭ ualkaʀ fim ra=þulfs| |su¶niʀ hraiþulfaʀ fim rukulfs| |suniʀ hąislaʀ fim haruþ¶s suniʀ kunmuntaʀ fim (b)irnaʀ suniʀ ¶ ᛭ nuk m--- [m]-- alu --[k][i] ainhuaʀ -þ......þ... ftiʀ fra ¶

sᴀgwm| |mogmenï (þ)ᴀd hoᴀʀ igold¶gᴀ oᴀʀï goldin d goąnᴀʀ hoslï ¶

sakum| |mukmini uaim si burin| |niþ¶ʀ trąki uilin is þat ᛭ knuą knat¶i| |iatun uilin is þat ᛭ (n)(i)(t) ¶