Lingsberg Stones, Part II

‘En Dan auk Húskarl auk Svæinn létu rétta stæin æftir Ulfrík, faðurfaður sinn. Hann hafði á Ænglandi tvau gjæld takit. Guð hjælpi þæira fæðga sálu auk Guðs móðir.’
‘And Dan and Húskarl and Svæin had [this] stone raised after Ulfrík, their paternal grandfather. He had taken two gelds in England. May God and God’s mother help the souls of father and son.’

The second of the two Lingsberg Runestones (U 241) raised by the sons of Halfdan. Found not far from the first, the second begins with ‘and,’ indicating that the second is a continuation of the first, as can be seen from the rest of the inscription.

Ulfrík is an interesting name, occurring very rarely in Scandinavia. Its Old English cognate, Wulfríċ, is well known from Anglo-Saxon England, suggesting that the name might be a borrowing from Old English.

As I have done before, I have normalized the inscription with diphthongs, despite the inscription showing that the carver likely did not retain diphthongs in his speech, as indicated by every instance of ‘stæin’ being spelt ‘stin,’ and ‘tvau’ being written as simple ‘tu,’ representing monophthongal ‘tvǿ.’ I do this because the carver himself has tried to retain the older diphthongal spelling throughout, as can be seen by the spelling of ‘Svæinn’ and ‘auk.’

Photo: U 241, Lingsberg by Wikimedia User:Berig, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Link

Lingsberg Stones, Part I

‘Dan auk Húskarl auk Svæinn auk Holmfríðr, þau mǿðgin létu rétta stæin þenna æftir Halfdan, faður þæira Dans, auk Holmfríðr at búanda sinn.’
‘Dan and Húskarl and Svæin and Holmfríđ, they, mother and sons, had this stone raised after Halfdan, the father of Dan and his brothers, and Holmfríđ after her husband.’

The first of the two Lingsberg Runestones (U 240) raised by the sons of Halfdan. They are rather typical runic monuments, commemorating dead kinsmen. The first, commemorating Halfdan, is co-signed by Halfdan’s wife and their mother, Holmfríđ.

Photo: U 240, Lingsberg by Wikimedia User:Berig, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Link