Kragehul I is a migration period

Migration Period

The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...

 lance

Javelin

A Javelin is a light spear intended for throwing. It is commonly known from the modern athletic discipline, the Javelin throw.Javelin may also refer to:-Aviation:* ATG Javelin, an American-Israeli civil jet aircraft, under development...

-shaft found in Fyn

FYN

Proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Fyn is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the FYN gene.This gene is a member of the protein-tyrosine kinase oncogene family. It encodes a membrane-associated tyrosine kinase that has been implicated in the control of cell growth...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. It is now in the collection of the National Museum of Denmark

National Museum of Denmark

The National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen is Denmark’s largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main domicile is located a short distance from Strøget at the center of Copenhagen. It contains exhibits from around the world,...

, Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

, Denmark. The spear shaft was found in 1877 during the excavation of the classic war booty sacrificial site Kragehul on southern Funen. The site holds five deposits of military equipment from the period 200 to 475 AD. The spear shaft probably belongs to the latest deposit.

Inscription

The Elder Futhark

Elder Futhark

The Elder Futhark is the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic tribes for Northwest Germanic and Migration period Germanic dialects of the 2nd to 8th centuries for inscriptions on artifacts such as jewellery, amulets, tools, weapons and runestones...

 inscription reads:

ek e⸗rila⸗z asugisalas m⸗uh⸗a h⸗aite g⸗ag⸗ag⸗a ginu g⸗ah⸗e […] lija […] hagala wiju big–[…]

The first part is read as:

ek erilaz āsugīsalas muha haite, gagaga

Interpreted as "I, the nobleman (erilaz

Erilaz

Erilaz is a Migration period Proto-Norse word attested on various Elder Futhark inscriptions, which has often been interpreted to mean "magician" or "rune master", viz. one who is capable of writing runes to magical effect...

) of Āsugīsalaz, am called Muha, ga-ga-ga!", where "ga-ga-ga" is some sort of ritual chant or battle cry. Āsugīsalaz contains āsu-, "god", and gīsalaz, "pledge", and is a personal name. Muha appears to be a personal name. The runes of gagaga are displayed as a row of three bindrunes based on the X-shape of the g rune

Gyfu

Gyfu is the name for the g-rune in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, meaning "gift" or "generosity":The corresponding letter of the Gothic alphabet is g, called giba. The same rune also appears in the Elder Futhark, with a suggested Proto-Germanic name *gebô "gift". J. H...

 with sidetwigs attached to its extremities for the a. A similar sequence gægogæ is found on the Undley bracteate

Undley bracteate

The Undley bracteate is a 5th century bracteate found in Undley Common, near Lakenheath, Suffolk. It bears the earliest known inscription that can be argued to be in Anglo-Frisian Futhorc ....

.

Interpretations

The gagaga and the remaining part of the inscriptions have prompted varying and partly fanciful interpretations.

Schneider

Schneider (1969) opts for bull sacrifice, reading g-a as "gift, god!" and the remaining as

Ginugahelija Hagala wiju bi g[aia].

"the mighty roarer [the sacrificial bull], the Hagal, I dedicate to the spear".

Düwel

Düwel (1983) reads the thrice repeated g-a as g[ibu] a[uja] "I give good fortune". For the second part of the inscription, he has

ginu-ga he[lmat]lija ... hag?l(a) wi[g]ju bi g[aia].

"magical-"ga", the helmet-destroying hail I dedicate to the spear"

Pieper

Pieper (1999) reads g-a as g[ebu] a[nsu] "gift to the god [Odin]", with following

ginu-ga hellija hag?la wiju bi g[ebu].

"magical-god-gift, hellish hail I dedicate upon this gift"

MacLeod and Mees

MacLeod and Mees (2006) read gagaga as an onomatopoeia related to forms like the Undley bracteate

Undley bracteate

The Undley bracteate is a 5th century bracteate found in Undley Common, near Lakenheath, Suffolk. It bears the earliest known inscription that can be argued to be in Anglo-Frisian Futhorc ....

's gægogæ, and read the expression as a metrical charm

Magic (paranormal)

Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...

gagaga ginu gahellija, hagala wiju bi g[aize].

"gagaga I yell resoundingly, hail I dedicate in the s[pear]"

External links

• runenprojekt.uni-kiel.de entry