View source for Velanda Runestone

{{Short description|Runestone in Velanda, Sweden}}
{{Infobox artifact
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| image             = [[File:Velandastenen.jpg|200px]]
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| writing           = 
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| created           = probably the early eleventh century
| discovered        = <!-- Deprecated; use the following, separate, parameters -->
| discovered_place  = [[Velanda]], [[Västergötland]], [[Sweden]]
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| discovered_date   = 1910
| discovered_by     = Jacobsson 
| rune_id           = Vg 150
| rune_style        = 
| rune_master       = unknown 
| rune_text_native  = [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] : See article. 
| rune_text_english = See article
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The '''Velanda Runestone''' ({{langx|sv|Velandastenen}}), designated as '''Vg 150''' in the [[Rundata]] catalog, is a [[runestone]] dated to the late tenth century or the early eleventh century that is located in the village of [[Velanda]], [[Trollhättan Municipality]], [[Västra Götaland County]], [[Sweden]], which is in the historic province of [[Västergötland]]. It was discovered around 1910 by a farmer named Jacobsson.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Flom |first=George T. |author-link=George T. Flom |title=Publications of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study |contribution=Scandinavian Publications, Recent and Forthcoming |publisher=Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study (U.S.) |year=1916 |page=226 |volume=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8i48AAAAIAAJ }}</ref>

==Description==
The Velanda Runestone is inscribed in [[Old Norse]] with the [[Younger Futhark]]. Above the arch of the runic text band is the outline of an eagle's head facing to the left.<ref name="Sourcebook">{{Cite book |last1=McKinnell |first1=John |last2=Simak |first2=Rudolf |last3=Düwel |first3=Klaus |title=Runes, Magic and Religion: A Sourcebook |publisher=Fassbaender |year=2004 |location=Vienna |pages=120–121 |url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/1053/1/1053.pdf |isbn=3-900538-81-6}}</ref> The stone was raised by a woman named Þyrvé in memory of her husband Ögmundr. The runic inscription states that he was ''miok goðan þegn'' or "a very good [[thegn]]". About fifty other runestones refer to the deceased being a thegn. Of these, four use exactly the same phrase, ''miok goðan þegn'': [[Västergötland Runic Inscription 73|Vg 73]] in Synnerby, Vg 108 in Tängs gamla, Vg 137 in Sörby, and DR 99 in Bjerregrav. The exact role of thegns in southern Sweden is a matter of debate, but the most common view is that they constituted an elite somehow connected to Danish power. It is thought that thegn-stones point to power centers from which they came, and from where they could be sent out to rule border areas in so-called ''tegnebyar''.<ref>Löfving, Carl (2001). ''Gothia som Dansk/Engelskt Skattland: Ett Exempel på Heterarki Omkring år 1000'' (doctoral dissertation). Göteborg.</ref>

The inscription asks the [[Norse paganism|Norse pagan]] god [[Thor]] to [[hallow]] the runestone. One or two other runestones in Sweden have similar invocations to Thor: [[Rök runestone|Ög 136]] in Rök and possibly [[Sö 140]] at Korpbron.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sawyer |first=Birgit |author-link=Birgit Sawyer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4M4-r-VL_WkC |title=The Viking-Age Rune-Stones: Custom and Commemoration in Early Medieval Scandinavia |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-19-820643-7 |page=128}}</ref> Other runestones in Denmark that include invocations of or dedications to Thor in their inscriptions include [[DR 110]] from Virring, [[Glavendrup stone|DR 209]] from Glavendrup, and [[Sønder Kirkeby Runestone|DR 220]] from Sønder Kirkeby.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKinnell |first=John |title=Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend |publisher=D. S. Brewer |year=2005 |location=Cambridge |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2x2x3neFywC |isbn=1-84384-042-1}}</ref> It has been noted that Thor is the only Norse god who is invoked on any [[Viking Age]] runestones.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Page |first=Raymond Ian |title=Norse Myths |publisher=University of Texas |date=2001 |orig-year=1990 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODbBmS8Ks-AC |isbn=0-292-75546-5}}</ref>

==Inscription==
[[File:Vg-150-runsvenska.opus|thumb|A reading of the Velanda runestone's text in Old East Norse.]]
[[File:Vg150 Väne-Åsaka 8 Velandastenen Thor vigi.jpg|thumb|Runes '''× ᚦᚢᚱ ᛬ ᚢᛁᚴᛁ ×''', meaning "may Þórr hallow" or thereof.]]
{| style="text-align:center"
| style="text-align:left; padding-right: 2em" | [[Younger Futhark]]
| style="color: #D80000" | '''×'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᚦᚢᚱᚢᛁ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᚱᛁᛋᚦᛁ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᛋᛏᛁᚾ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᛁᚠᛏᛁᛦ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᚢᚴᛘᚢᛏ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᛒᚢᛏᛅ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᛋᛁᚾ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᛘᛁᚢᚴ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᚴᚢᚦᛅᚾ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᚦᛁᚴᚾ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''×'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᚦᚢᚱ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''᛬'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''ᚢᛁᚴᛁ'''
| style="color: #D80000" | '''×'''
|-
| style="text-align:left; padding-right: 2em;" | [[Transliteration]] || '''×''' || '''þurui''' || ''':''' || '''risþi''' || ''':''' || '''stin''' || ''':''' || '''iftiʀ''' || ''':''' || '''ukmut''' || ''':''' || '''buta''' || ''':''' || '''sin''' || ''':''' || '''miuk''' || ''':''' || '''kuþan''' || ''':''' || '''þikn''' || '''×''' || '''þur''' || ''':''' || '''uiki''' || '''×'''
|-
| style="text-align:left; padding-right: 2em;" | [[Runic Swedish]] || || ''Þyrvi'' || || ''ræisti'' || || ''stæin'' || || ''æftiʀ'' || || ''Ogmund,'' || || ''bonda'' || || ''sinn'' || || ''miok'' || || ''goðan'' || || ''þegn.'' || || ''Þorr'' || || ''vigi.'' || <ref name="svrunoreg">{{cite web |author1=Lena Peterson |title=Svenskt runordsregister {{!}} Utarbetat av Lena Peterson |url=https://www.rattsatt.com/rundata/Runordsregister.pdf |website=rattsatt.com |publisher=[[Uppsala University]] |access-date=2024-06-11 |language=sv |format=pdf |date=2006}}</ref><ref name="Rundata">{{cite Scandinavian Runic-text Database | edition=2020 | name=Vg 150 | srdb=82904281-014a-4698-8d96-be3d1bddddd0 | runor=3cecb77a-3b81-42f1-a9cc-ee820d434445 | access-date=11 May 2025}}</ref>
|-
| style="text-align:left; padding-right: 2em;" | [[Literal translation]] || || Torvi || || raised || || stone || || after || || Ögmund, || || husband || || hers, || || a very || || able || || [[thegn]]. || || [[Thor]] || || hallow. || 
|-
| style="text-align:left; padding-right: 2em;" | [[Modern English]] || || colspan= "24" style="text-align:left" | Torvi erected this stone in memory of her husband Ögmund, a very able [[thegn]]. Praise Thor.
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Other sources==
* Larsson, Mats G. (2002). ''Götarnas Riken : Upptäcktsfärder Till Sveriges Enande''. Bokförlaget Atlantis AB {{ISBN|978-91-7486-641-4}}

==External links==
* [http://www.kms.raa.se/cocoon/bild/show-image.html?id=16000300013834 Photograph of runestone] - Swedish National Heritage Board
{{runestones}}

[[Category:Runestones in Västergötland]]
[[Category:10th-century inscriptions]]
[[Category:11th-century inscriptions]]
[[Category:Trollhättan Municipality]]