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Fuþorc Rune 31: Überlegungen zu Form und Funktion

  • Elke Ronneberger-Sibold and Kerstin Kazzazi
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Die Faszination des Verborgenen und seine Entschlüsselung – Rāđi sa¿ kunni
This chapter is in the book Die Faszination des Verborgenen und seine Entschlüsselung – Rāđi sa¿ kunni

Abstract

The Old English runic inventory, known as the futorc, added several new runes to the inherited Common Germanic futark, the last of which is commonly called Rune 31, documented exclusively on the Ruthwell Cross. This rune poses a number of questions: Apart from its name being unknown, its raison d’etre, the origin of its form and its function, i. e. its sound value, are far from clear as well. On the basis of a careful phonological analysis, the first part of the article proposes a sound value [kwj], i. e. a (possibly phonemicized) labiovelar k-sound in a palatal environment, which would explain the need for a new grapheme. Another factor in the creation of Rune 31 may have been language contact, as the Ruthwell Cross stands in a region bordering Celtic settlement areas, i. e. an area in which Irish was spoken at the time. In the second part of the article, linguistic features of Irish which may have enabled a bilingual speaker to notice a still subphonematic difference in the form of Old English recorded on the Ruthwell Cross are briefly discussed. This suggestion is corroborated by writing samples of a trilingual child also indicating multilingual awareness of more than one phonological system.

Abstract

The Old English runic inventory, known as the futorc, added several new runes to the inherited Common Germanic futark, the last of which is commonly called Rune 31, documented exclusively on the Ruthwell Cross. This rune poses a number of questions: Apart from its name being unknown, its raison d’etre, the origin of its form and its function, i. e. its sound value, are far from clear as well. On the basis of a careful phonological analysis, the first part of the article proposes a sound value [kwj], i. e. a (possibly phonemicized) labiovelar k-sound in a palatal environment, which would explain the need for a new grapheme. Another factor in the creation of Rune 31 may have been language contact, as the Ruthwell Cross stands in a region bordering Celtic settlement areas, i. e. an area in which Irish was spoken at the time. In the second part of the article, linguistic features of Irish which may have enabled a bilingual speaker to notice a still subphonematic difference in the form of Old English recorded on the Ruthwell Cross are briefly discussed. This suggestion is corroborated by writing samples of a trilingual child also indicating multilingual awareness of more than one phonological system.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Vorwort VII
  3. Inhaltsverzeichnis XI
  4. The Finn Episode in Beowulf: Its Beginning, its Conclusion, and Some Further Textual Notes 1
  5. Manuskript-Runen im Kontext des medizinisch-botanischen Schrifttums: Zur Funktion bestimmter Runeneinträge 19
  6. Eddische Dichtung und skandinavische Ballade: Eine schwierige Nachbarschaft 33
  7. Í eino briósti ec sác aldregi fleiri forna stafi. Der Begriff stafr in der eddischen Dichtung und den metrischen Runeninschriften 53
  8. Die dreizehn Geschichten auf dem Runenstein von Rök 65
  9. The Porosity of Kennings and Kenning Patterns 85
  10. Überlegungen zur Bild- und Runenritzung von Aspö in Södermanland (Sö 175) 95
  11. The Term rekit in Háttalykill and Háttatal 109
  12. Norwegian runestones with inscriptions in the older Futhark: a socio-topographical sketch from an archaeological point of view 121
  13. The Fatal Role of Women in Medieval Icelandic Literature – the example of Njáls saga 147
  14. The Northernmost Runic alu 163
  15. Was ist die Mehrzahl von „Milch“? Lexikalische Plurale im Nordfriesischen und im Jütischen 169
  16. Gamle fund – nye opdagelser 193
  17. Hier mun standa stainn at merki: Ett par bidrag till tolkningen av inskriften på Hogränstenen (G 203) 205
  18. Love and Eroticism in Medieval Norwegian Runic Inscriptions 217
  19. Ironische Kenningar 233
  20. Was bedeuten die Runen rmþï in der Runeninschrift auf dem Stein von By? 243
  21. Unsichtbare Grabhügel 261
  22. The phonological systems of Biblical Gothic and Crimean Gothic compared 277
  23. Bergakker Revisited 291
  24. Darraðarljóð and Njáls saga 299
  25. Die Überlieferung des Jütischen Gesetzes (1241) 315
  26. Fuþorc Rune 31: Überlegungen zu Form und Funktion 323
  27. Historische Anthropologie in der Altnordistik 339
  28. Hans Kuhn, das Nordische Institut und die Anfänge der Nordfriesischen Wörterbuchstelle 347
  29. The name of the rune æsċ: The Transformation of the Common Germanic rune *ansuz to Pre-OE rune æsċ 363
  30. A far-travelled word: Old Norse skeið ʻracecourse, running trackʼ in early literature and place-names 379
  31. Þórr and wading 411
  32. Interdisziplinäre Interpretation: Theoretische Grundlagen und methodische Ansätze 429
  33. Schriftenverzeichnis Edith Marold 449
  34. Indices 463
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110548136-024

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Vorwort VII
  3. Inhaltsverzeichnis XI
  4. The Finn Episode in Beowulf: Its Beginning, its Conclusion, and Some Further Textual Notes 1
  5. Manuskript-Runen im Kontext des medizinisch-botanischen Schrifttums: Zur Funktion bestimmter Runeneinträge 19
  6. Eddische Dichtung und skandinavische Ballade: Eine schwierige Nachbarschaft 33
  7. Í eino briósti ec sác aldregi fleiri forna stafi. Der Begriff stafr in der eddischen Dichtung und den metrischen Runeninschriften 53
  8. Die dreizehn Geschichten auf dem Runenstein von Rök 65
  9. The Porosity of Kennings and Kenning Patterns 85
  10. Überlegungen zur Bild- und Runenritzung von Aspö in Södermanland (Sö 175) 95
  11. The Term rekit in Háttalykill and Háttatal 109
  12. Norwegian runestones with inscriptions in the older Futhark: a socio-topographical sketch from an archaeological point of view 121
  13. The Fatal Role of Women in Medieval Icelandic Literature – the example of Njáls saga 147
  14. The Northernmost Runic alu 163
  15. Was ist die Mehrzahl von „Milch“? Lexikalische Plurale im Nordfriesischen und im Jütischen 169
  16. Gamle fund – nye opdagelser 193
  17. Hier mun standa stainn at merki: Ett par bidrag till tolkningen av inskriften på Hogränstenen (G 203) 205
  18. Love and Eroticism in Medieval Norwegian Runic Inscriptions 217
  19. Ironische Kenningar 233
  20. Was bedeuten die Runen rmþï in der Runeninschrift auf dem Stein von By? 243
  21. Unsichtbare Grabhügel 261
  22. The phonological systems of Biblical Gothic and Crimean Gothic compared 277
  23. Bergakker Revisited 291
  24. Darraðarljóð and Njáls saga 299
  25. Die Überlieferung des Jütischen Gesetzes (1241) 315
  26. Fuþorc Rune 31: Überlegungen zu Form und Funktion 323
  27. Historische Anthropologie in der Altnordistik 339
  28. Hans Kuhn, das Nordische Institut und die Anfänge der Nordfriesischen Wörterbuchstelle 347
  29. The name of the rune æsċ: The Transformation of the Common Germanic rune *ansuz to Pre-OE rune æsċ 363
  30. A far-travelled word: Old Norse skeið ʻracecourse, running trackʼ in early literature and place-names 379
  31. Þórr and wading 411
  32. Interdisziplinäre Interpretation: Theoretische Grundlagen und methodische Ansätze 429
  33. Schriftenverzeichnis Edith Marold 449
  34. Indices 463
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