Kylver Stone

The Kylver stone.

The Kylver stone (G 88) is a Swedish runestone which dates from about 400 CE. It was found on a farm at Kylver, Stånga, Gotland in 1903. The stone was a flat rock used to seal a grave and the inscription was written on the underside, and could therefore not be read from above.

The stone is inscribed with the earliest known sequential listing of the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark,

[f] u þ a r k g [w] h n i j p ï z s t b e m l ŋ d o

with the a, s and b runes mirrored compared to later use, and the z rune upside down.

After the last rune follows a spruce- or tree-like rune commonly believed to be a stacked Tiwaz rune.^[1] Another interpretation is that it is a stacked bind rune combining six Tiwaz runes used to invoke the god Tyr and four Ansuz runes to invoke the Æsir for protection.^[2] At a separate space the word sueus is inscribed. The meaning of this latter palindromic word is unknown, but it is assumed to be associated with magic. One possible suggestion presented by Marstrander is that it is a magical writing of the word 'eus' (the nominative form of the word horse) starting from the e and writing either way.^[3] (Also note that the small inscription uses the younger futhark version of the s-rune.)

The Kylver stone was removed from Gotland and brought to the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm where it is not currently on display (2008).

References

1. ^ Enoksen, Lars Magnar (1998). Runor. Falun: Historiska Media. pp. 44. ISBN 91-88930-32-7. 
2. ^ Spurkland, Terje (2005). Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions. Boydell Press. pp. 16. ISBN 1-84383-186-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=1QDKqY-NWvUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
3. ^ Konstantin, Reichardt, The Inscription on Helmet B of Negau, in Language, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1953), pp. 306-316, p.315

See also

• Rundata
• Vadstena bracteate — Another early futhark inscription.

External links

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