Gothic runic inscriptions
Very few
Elder Futhark inscriptions in the
Gothic language have been found in the territory historically settled by the
Goths (
Wielbark culture,
Chernyakhov culture). This is due to the early
Christianization of the Goths, with the
Gothic alphabet replacing runes by the mid 4th century.
There are about a dozen candidate inscriptions, and only three of them are widely accepted to be of Gothic origin: the gold ring of Pietroassa, bearing a votive inscription, part of a larger treasure found in the
Romanian
Carpathians, and two spearheads inscribed with what is probably the weapon's name, one found in the
Ukrainian Carpathians, and the other in eastern Germany, near the
Oder.
A gold ring (necklace) found in
1837 in
Pietroassa (
recte Pietroasa, north-western
Romania, some 50km south of
Satu Mare), dated to the ca. AD 400, bearing a
Elder Futhark inscription of 15 runes. The ring was stolen in 1875, and clipped in two with pliers by a Bucarest goldsmith. It was recovered, but the 7th rune is now destroyed:
gutani [?] wi hailagIt was either
othala,
ingwaz or
jera. In pre-1875 drawings and descriptions, it was read as othala [
1],
gutaniowi hailag, interpreted as either
gutanio wi hailag "sacred to the gothic women", or
gutan-iowi hailag "sacred to the Jove of the Goths" (Loewe 1909; interpreted as
Thunraz), or
gutani o[thala] hailag "sacred inheritance of the Goths" (
gutani is the genitive plural, for Ulfilan
gutane).
The identity of the 7th rune as othala has been called into question. A reading as ingwaz is
gutani(i)ŋwa hailag "sacred to the Ingwaz of the Goths" (compare the association of Ing with the "
East Danes" in the
Anglo-Saxon rune poem). Reichert (1992) however, in the most recent and most thorough re-evaluation to date (as of 2005), concludes that a reading as othala is untenable. The lower part of the rune is now missing, but on close inspection, it appears evident that its upper part forms no closed loop, leading to a reading of
gutani j[er] wi hailag (Ulfilan
gutane jer weih hailag) "sacred to a good year/harvest of the Goths", putting the votive inscription in the context of a fertility cult.
The head of a lance, found in
1858 Suszyczno, 30 km from
Kovel,
Ukraine, dated to the early
3rd century [
2] [
3]
The spearhead measures 15.5 cm with a maximal length of 3.0 cm. Both sides of the leaf were inlaid with silver symbols. The inscription notably runs right to left, reading
tilarids, interpreted as "rushing towards the target", either of a warrior, or of the spear itself. It is identified as Gothic because of the nominative
-s (in contrast to
Proto-Norse -z).
A 1880 casting of the spearhead is exhibited in Berlin, a 1884 casting in Warsaw. The object itself was lost, reappeared in 1939, was taken to Germany, and was lost again during the WWII.
The head of a lance, found in Dahmsdorf-Müncheberg, in the
Mark Brandenburg between
Berlin and the
Oder River, inscribed with
ranja (Ulfilan
rannja, "the runner"). [
4]
Spindle whorl found in Letcani,
Romania, dated to the 4th century
adonsufhe :rango:Silver buckle found in Szabadbattvan,
Hungary, dated to the early 5th century.
marings*Marstrander, Carl,
De gotiske runeminnesmaerker; NTS 3 (1929) 25-157.
*Ebbinghaus, Ernst,
The question of Visigothic runic inscriptions re-examined, GL 30:4 (1990) 207-214.
*Dietrich, Franz Eduard Christoph:
de inscriptionibus duabus Runicis ad Gothorum gentem relatis, Marburg (Elwert) 1861.
*Loewe, Richard: Der Goldring von Pietroassa;
IF 26 (1909), 203-208.
*Graf, Heinz-Joachim, Gutanio wi hailag
oder Gutaniom hailag
? - Zur Lesung des Ringes von Pietroasa, GRM 31 (1943) 128-129.
*Reichert, Hermann:
GUTANI ? WI HAILAG, Die Sprache 35 (1993) 235-247.
*http://syllabus.gmxhome.de/gotica/Runica.html
