Notice of Runic Inscriptions Discovered during Recent Excavations in the Orkneys Part 7

[2] Professor Rafn says Lothbrok--a pair of s.h.a.ggy trousers--was the well-known surname of Ragnar Lodbrok. At the time of the carving of the inscription, a popular tradition current in the Orkneys may have ascribed to far antiquity, and to the said hero of the mythico-historical times, the construction of the barrow; and on account of the want of historical knowledge, since the word lothbrok is of feminine gender, the hero may have been mistaken for a woman, and besides, the accounts in the sagas of his sons may have been repeated, that they were brave and valiant. The account given in the Fridthiofs Saga of the Earl Angantyre, reminds us of the pre-historic times of the Orkneys (_vide_ Tridthjoss Saga, c. 5.

Thorsteins Saga Vikings). Here a popular tale preserved to us in Runes, does the same by telling us that this barrow was the sorcery platform erected of old for the use of Lodbrok, and was probably also a temple and place of wors.h.i.+p.

[3] The word read by Professor Rafn, Maur, instead of Mar, and considered as a proper name, is read mair or more by Professor Stephens. In the engraving No. 7, the letters are [rune] [rune] [rune] [rune] obviously m, a, i, r--mair. It must therefore be a matter of doubt whether we can receive this word as a proper name, and consequently whether the derivation of the word Maes-Howe, suggested by Professor Rafn, is admissible.

[4] Professor Munch supposes that the Jerusalem travellers, who are described in No. 13 as having broken into the how, were connected with an expedition organized by Earl Ragnvald to the Holy Land. He says "many of the northern warriors joined the Earl in 1152. They a.s.sembled in Orkney, and after pa.s.sing the winter there, sailed in the spring of 1153, and after being in Spain in December of that year, reached the Holy Land in August 1154; they went thence to Constantinople, where they pa.s.sed the Christmas of 1154-55, returning home by different routes. During their stay in Orkney they had frequent quarrels with the inhabitants." As some of the inscriptions seem to indicate the existence of treasure in the tumulus, it is not unlikely that it should have been examined by these warriors, and that they afterwards inscribed their names, together with other remarks, on the walls.

[5] There is a similar allusion to hid treasure on the wall of a rock at Berrig, in the Star valley North Throndheim County--"gull faitu nin alna nither"--They hid some gold nine ells deep in the earth.

[6] This ("evidently very difficult carving," says Professor Stephens) may be taken as a fair specimen of the Bind-rune form of writing.

"The first letter is B, a very rare form; the second an ornamental O, with three side strokes instead of two; the third a T, the strokes being reversed and repeated above and below; the fourth H/g, here used for ae; the fifth, R; sixth, O, as before; seventh, Kt--[rune] and [rune]; eighth, [rune] (i and a), the side stroke being placed below; ninth, At, Bind-rune; tenth, an S; eleventh, O again; twelfth, KU--K and U; thirteenth, the monogram Asuo, A ([rune]), the side stroke thrice repeated, then S ([rune] for [rune]), an uncommon form, then U ([rune]) below, and then ([rune]) with three strokes; fourteenth, the Bind-rune I N K ([rune] [rune] [rune]); fifteenth, an O; sixteenth, an ornamental T; seventeenth, the monogram Alant--A ([rune]) L ([rune]) reversed and below, and [rune] taken again, and N ([rune]) and T ([rune]) above twice; then eighteenth, the Bind-rune Sua, S ([rune]) U ([rune]) and A ([rune]) in the centre; nineteenth, The Bind-rune Ink, I [rune], and [rune]; and lastly the monogram lant L ([rune]), A [rune], and N [rune], and T in the centre--formed thus [rune]."