Kirkjubøstein

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On this stamp you can see the Sandavágs stone in the foreground, behind it the inscription of the Kirkjubø stone.

The Kirkjubøstein ( Faroese : Kirkjubøsteinurin ) is a rune stone that was found in 1832 near Magnus Cathedral in Kirkjubøur in the Faroe Islands .

The stone was kept in the National Museum of Denmark for a long time , but is now back in the Faroe Islands and is kept in the Faroe Islands History Museum . 19 runes are scratched, but difficult to read. The text has not yet been clearly deciphered. The only part that might make sense is the last 12 characters. According to the transcription by Marie Ingerslev Simonsen from 1959, this section reads :

i: uikuf (i): uni: ruo

In standardized Old Norse :

Vigulfi unni ró

German:

Peace granted to (the) Vígúlvur

Along with this interpretation, the stone was dated to the 11th century. Today it is generally said that the stone dates from around the year 1000, the Christianization of the Faroe Islands .

An earlier interpretation by Ludvig Wimmer in 1887 says:

uftir hrua
eftir Hróa
after Rói

Wimmer dated the stone to the 9th century, the beginning of the Viking Age in the Faroe Islands .

Both interpretations result in a completely different meaning with regard to the intended person: Are we talking about a Hrói (Rói or Rógvi in ​​today's Faroese) or a Vigulf (Vígúlvur)?

The Kirkjubø stone is one of three known Faroese rune stones , along with the Sandavágs stone and the Fámjins stone, and at the same time the oldest known written testimony from the Faroe Islands.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Pipsa Morn: Tjóðsavnið National Museum of the Faroe Islands. In: Suomen Merenkulku 3/2019, pp. 20–27, here p. 22 ( online ).