‘Mýskja auk Máni létu ræisa kumbl þausi at bróður sinn Hróðgæir auk faður sinn Holmstæin. Hann hafði vestarla um varit længi, dóu austarla með Ingvari.’
‘Mýskja and Máni had this monument raised after their brother Hróđgæir and their father Holmstæin. He had been long about in the west, died in the east with Ingvar.’
The Tystberga Runestone (Sö 173) is another in the series of inscriptions remembering the deceased who embarked on a journey to ‘Serkland’ with Ingvar.
The names of the deceased are rather normal, but the names of the raisers are unique. ‘Máni’ is a clear name, meaning ‘moon,’ while ‘Mýskja’ is more unclear, but appears to mean ‘mouse-ish.’
Also unique is the use of a dotted U-rune to read ‘ve’ in ‘vestarla.’ While the use of the dotted rune to indicate a consonantal rather than vocalic reading is not unknown, the lack of a following vowel is perhaps an indication of dialectal progressive mutation.
Like others in the series, the inscription ends with a short verse: ‘Hann hafði vestarla / um varit længi, / dóu austarla / með Ingvari.’
Photo: Sö 173, Tystberga by Wikimedia User:Berig, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Link
Ingravn: Runes, Mythology, Language, Calendars, etc. 