Primer from Meldorf

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Drawing of the inscription on the fibula

The Meldorf fibula , also called the Meldorf rune fibula , is an archaeological find from near Meldorf in Schleswig-Holstein . It is a bronze roller cap brooch (clasp), "which for typological reasons dates to the 1st half of the 1st century AD". The fibula has four engraved symbols on the needle rest, which were executed by a sure hand with a clean tremolating stitch. The characters are probably a runic inscription .

Find history and interpretation

In February 1979, the archaeologist came Michael fee in the magazine of the Archaeological National Museum Schloss Gottorp by chance on the fibula. However, the previous find history and circumstances as well as the exact location are unknown. The primer was only unpacked and cataloged in 1968. Fee interpreted the characters attached to it as characters. As a result, a lively discussion developed in the international professional world about the possibilities of interpretation and the authenticity of the characters. The lack of comparable decorations on the needle feet of other fibulae of this type speaks against the interpretation as ornament. Above all, the old age of the fibula and the lack of correspondence between the engraved characters and known writing systems prior to the general spread of runic writing speak against an interpretation as a runic inscription . Other possible interpretations would be a stunted Latin inscription or the imitation of Latin characters by a craftsman who is not literate, a so-called pseudo - script . The similarity of the signs with the later common runes makes the interpretation as runic inscription appear most likely. Since the runes were probably developed after the model of the Latin script, it could be a transitional form or a mixture of Latin and runic characters.

The reading and interpretation of the signs are still controversial; most likely it is a woman's name in the dative. If it is a question of runes, the engraving could read clockwise (from left to right) read hiwi ( ᚺᛁᚹᛁ ) and mean for the domestic , but if you read it to the left (from right to left), it could also be a Latin inscription and Idin the Germanic form for Ida are called.

Assuming that the interpretation as runic inscription is correct, it was the oldest rune find of all and undoubtedly an early stage of the runes, which can be proven beyond doubt from the middle of the 2nd century.

The primer is in the permanent exhibition of the Archaeological State Museum Schleswig-Holstein in Gottorf Castle .

Photographic images

  • Tineke Looijenga: Plate 13b – c . In this. Texts & contexts of the oldest Runic inscriptions , Brill, Leiden / Boston 2003, ISSN  1569-1462 , ISBN 90-04-12396-2 . (The Northern World Vol. 4)
  • Thomas Brock: Runes - the magical symbols . In: Adventure archeology . No. 1 . Spectrum of Science Verl.-Ges., 2006, ISSN  1612-9954 , p. 84-86 ( PDF ).

See also

literature

  • Elmer H. Antonsen : The oldest runic scripts in today's view . In: Heinrich Beck (ed.): Germanic problems in today's view , de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1986, ISBN 3-11-010806-2 , pp. 321–343. ( Supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , 1)
  • Klaus Düwel , Michael Fee : The fibula of Meldorf and the beginnings of runic writing . In: Journal for German Antiquity and German Literature  (ZfdA) 110 (1981), pp. 159–175.
  • Klaus Düwel, Michael Fee: Meldorf . In: Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer (Eds.) Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , Vol. 19, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017163-5 , pp. 520-522.
  • Klaus Düwel: The primer from Meldorf. 25 years of discussion and no end - at the same time a contribution to the problems of interpretation and the history of research . In: Stefan Burmeister, Heidrun Derks, Jasper v. Richthofen (Ed.): Forty-two. Festschrift for Michael's 65th birthday fee . Leidorf, Rahden / Westf. 2007, ISBN 978-3-89646-425-5 , pp. 167-174 .
  • Klaus Düwel: Runic lore . 4th revised and updated edition, JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2008, ISBN 978-3-476-14072-2 .
  • Bernard Mees: A New Interpretation of the Meldorf Fibula Inscription . In: ZfdA 126 (1997), pp. 131-139.
  • Bengt Odenstedt: The inscription on the Meldorf Fibula. In: ZfdA 112 (1983), pp. 153-161.
  • Bengt Odenstedt: Further Reflections on the Meldorf Inscription . In: ZfdA 118 (1989), pp. 77-85.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Düwel, Klaus: Runenkunde. 4th, revised and updated edition, Stuttgart 2008, p. 23; also: Description of the Meldorf fibula by the Kiel rune project and English-language Wikipedia
  2. ↑ Düwel, Klaus: Runenkunde. 4th, revised and updated edition, Stuttgart 2008, p. 23 as well as description of the Meldorf primer by the rune project Kiel