Bind rune
A bind rune or bindrune (Template:Langx) is a Migration Period Germanic ligature of two or more runes. They are extremely rare in Viking Age inscriptions, but are common in earlier (Proto-Norse) and later (medieval) inscriptions.[1]
On some runestones, bind runes may have been ornamental and used to highlight the name of the carver.[2]
Description
There are two types of bind runes. Normal bind runes are formed of two (or rarely three) adjacent runes which are joined together to form a single conjoined glyph, usually sharing a common vertical stroke (see Hadda example below).[3] Another type of bind rune called a same-stave rune, which is common in Scandinavian runic inscriptions but does not occur at all in Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions, is formed by several runic letters written sequentially along a long common stemline (see þ=r=u=t=a=ʀ= =þ=i=a=k=n example shown in image).[4] In the latter cases the long bind rune stemline may be incorporated into an image on the rune stone, for example as a ship's mast on runestones Sö 158 at Ärsta and Sö 352 in Linga, Södermanland, Sweden, or as the waves under a ship on DR 220 in Sønder Kirkeby, Denmark.[4]
Examples
Elder futhark
Examples found in Elder Futhark inscriptions include:
- Stacked Tiwaz runes: Kylver Stone, Seeland-II-C
- Gebô runes combined with vowels: Kragehul I
- The syllable ing written as a ligature of Isaz and Ingwaz (the so-called "lantern rune").[5]
Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
Bind runes are not common in Anglo-Saxon inscriptions, but double ligatures do sometimes occur, and triple ligatures may rarely occur. The following are examples of bind-runes that have been identified in Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions:[6][7]
- The word Script error: No such module "Lang". is written with a ligatured double Template:Runic (dd) on the Thornhill III rune-stone
- The name Script error: No such module "Lang". is written with a ligatured double Template:Runic (dd) on the Derbyshire bone plate
- The word Script error: No such module "Lang". is written with a ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (er) on some Northumbrian stycas
- The Latin word Script error: No such module "Lang". is written as Script error: No such module "Lang". with a ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (mæ) on the Whitby comb
- The inscription Script error: No such module "Lang". ("ring I am called") is written with a ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (ha) on the Wheatley Hill finger-ring
- The names of the evangelists, Mat(t)[h](eus) and Marcus are both written with a ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (ma) on St Cuthbert's coffin
- The name Script error: No such module "Lang". may be written with a triple ligatured Template:Runic, Template:Runic and Template:Runic (der) on the Thornhill III rune-stone (this reading is not certain)
- The word Script error: No such module "Lang". is written with a ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (fa) on the right side of the Franks Casket
- Double ligatured runes Template:Runic (er), Template:Runic (ha) and Template:Runic (dæ) occur in the cryptic runic inscription on a silver knife mount at the British Museum
- The word gægogæ on the Undley bracteate is written with ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (gæ) and Template:Runic and Template:Runic (go)
- A ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (nt) occurs in the word glæstæpontol on a cryptic inscription on a silver ring from Bramham Moor in West Yorkshire
- A triple ligature Template:Runic, Template:Runic and Template:Runic (dmo) occurs on a broken amulet found near Stratford-upon-Avon in 2006. This is the only known certain Anglo-Saxon triple bind rune. There is possibly a faint Template:Runic, Template:Runic (ed) bind rune on the reverse of the amulet.[8]
- The name Ecgbeorht engraved on an armband from the Galloway Hoard is written eggbrect with ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (ec), and the final Template:Runic (t) added above the final letter
- The otherwise unattested Anglo-Saxon name Eadruf Template:Runic is inscribed on a gold Latin cross pendant, with ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (dr) and probable ligatured Template:Runic and Template:Runic (ea)[9]
Modern use
- The Bluetooth logo File:Bluetooth.svg merges the runes analogous to the modern Latin alphabet letters h and b; Template:Runic (Hagall) and Template:Runic (Berkanan) together, forming a bind rune. The two letters form the initials 'H B', alluding to the Danish king and viking raider Harald Bluetooth, for whom Bluetooth was named.
- The former logo of Thor Steinar featured a combination of a *tiwaz rune (Template:Runic) and a *sowilo rune Template:Runic. This logo caused controversy as the runes were so combined that a part of the logo became very similar to the insignia of the Script error: No such module "Lang"..
Gallery
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The a and the þ runes in ligature on the Rök runestone
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The s and k runes in ligature in the Old Norse word Script error: No such module "Lang". ("sailor") on the Tuna Runestone in Småland
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A bind rune for the word Script error: No such module "Lang". on the Sønder Kirkeby Runestone in Denmark
See also
References
External links
Script error: No such module "Navbox".
- ↑ Enoksen, Lars Magnar (1998). Runor: historia, tydning, tolkning, p. 84. Historiska Media, Falun. Template:ISBN
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Richard Lee Morris, Runic and Mediterranean Epigraphy, 1988, p. 130.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".