Bryggen inscriptions
The
Bryggen inscriptions are a find of some 670
runic inscriptions on wood (mostly
pine) and bone found from
1955 and forth at
Bryggen (and its surroundings) in
Bergen,
Norway. It has been called the most important runic find in the twentieth century. Before the find of these inscriptions, there was doubt whether the runes were ever used for anything else than inscriptions of names and solemn phrases. The Bryggen find showed the everyday use that runes had in this area, and presumably in other parts of
Scandinavia as well. Another important aspect of the find was that many of the inscriptions were obviously at least as young as the 14th century. Previously it was believed that the use of runes in Norway had died out long before. Since these findings, many more runic inscriptions of this type has been found in Norway.
The inscriptions have numbers for Bergen finds, mostly "B" followed by three figures.
Many of the inscriptions follow the formula
Eysteinn á mik, (
Eysteinn owns me, B001), and have probably been used as markers of property - like modern day name tags. Some contain short messages of different types, such as
Ást min, kyss mik (
my darling, kiss me, B017) and others have longer messages such as business letters and orders. Yet others contain short religious inscriptions, often in
Latin, such as
Rex Judæorum In nomine Patris Nazarenus (B005) and may have been intended as amulets.
The inscriptions are currently kept at
Bryggens Museum in Bergen. A small number of them are on display.
:B149: kya: sæhir : atþu: kakhæim: þ(an)sak: (ab)akist(an): rþis
Gyða tells you to go home.| B # | Transcribed Text | Normalized Text | Object inscribed!External image links | |B001| øystein:amihærmaþrhaæþrmþrhærmaþrmaria | Eysteinn á mi[k]HerrmadrHerrmadrHerrmadrMaria. | Runekjevle | Image Image |
|B003| auema | Ave Maria | Wooden plate | Image Image |
|B004| io(an)a | Jóhann á | Skull of Walruss | Image Image |
|B005| rexiudeorum innomini patrisnazarenus | Rex Judæorum In nomine Patris Nazarenus | Part of a small wooden cross | Image |
|B006| benatit a g l a la lagla [.](ln)bastii marhret. a g la ag l a ba. flkarel bar(aþ)olis | Wooden cross | Image |
|B007| a(ue)m(ar)ia | Ave Maria | Bottom piece of a wooden bowl | Image |
|B008| ly(an)þkat(af)mn(un)æruþkit | Shoe | Image |
|B009| 3/1 3/2 3/3 3/4 3/5 = fuþorþbiss|Fuþor | Kane | Image |
|B010| tar |
|B010| elleg er fuþ sin byllifuþorglbasm | Ferligr er fuð sinn byrliFuðorglbasm. | Flat wooden stick | Image Image |
|B012| inra | ...inr á | Flat wooden stick | Image |
|B013| mikæl petr ioanes andres lafranz tomas olafr klemet nikulas allerhælgermengiætaimin notouk dahilfsminsouk salokuþsemikoksihni=kuÞkifiosbyrokkafomarih[..[lbemer ethialbemerallegzhlkarh[...] | Mikjáll, Pétr, Jóanes, Andreas, Lafranz, Thomas, "lafr, Klemetr, Nikulás. Allir helgir menn, gæti mín nótt ok dag, lífs míns ok sálu. Guð sé mik ok signi.Guð gefi oss byr ok gáfu Mariu.H{já}lpi mér Klemetr, hjalpi mér allir Guðs helgir (menn) | Flat wooden stick, with a hole at the end. | Image |
|B014| d(el)us | deus | Piece of wood, shaped into a narrow cross. | Image Image |
|B015| iuairfuþo | .....fuþo | Wood stick. | Image |
|B016| a | Piece of wood | Image Image |
|B017| ost min kis mikfuþorkhniastbmly | Ást min, kyss mikFuþorkhniastbmly | Wooden stick | Image Image |
|B018| þr:inliossa:log:rostirriþatbiþa:(aþ)yþænþuæt[-]nuka:ældiriþsu(an)ahiþar:s(au)dælakumlynhuit(an)ha[--]klkolotak(ol)ahbohas(ol)ar:fiartar:tahs[--][...]kuiþi þækanukabækiiar | Piece of wood | Image Image Image Image |
|B019| yakæyrfiarrakæyrfiar | Squared broken wood piece | Image |
|B020| blm[-fuþorkhniastblmy | blm[-Fuþorkhniastblmy | Smoothed piece of wood | Image Image |
|
*
Birch bark document*
Database with the runes from Bryggen*
Report on computerizing the Bryggen runes
