There might be even older sources, note Codanus sinus for the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea, and Codannovia for Scandinavia, from Pomponius Mela, and Pliny the older, who wrote at the beginning of the first century AD. Apart from the more known forms of the name Odin/Wodan etc. then we know that the Langobards/Lombards had the form Godan for Odin, and something similar (Goen/Goden) exist for one of the Jutish versions of the wild hunters, i.e from folklore/folkbelief, apart from forms with front U etc. (front O and W/V are just the more common versions it seems), what also seems to follow dialect borders to some degree, within Jutland. Garbled versions of Germanic tribe names etc., written down by Roman and Greek sources are not that uncommon either, as the information about these often likely came down over several inbetween persons, often as strange unfamiliar languages, with the errors that could make... Add to it that Latin itself over time underwent a number of sound changes, ex. with the C from a hard near K sound, to softer sounds, and in that light Codan etc. is not that far of from Godan etc. Regarding the sound values of C, K, and G sounds in Latin, then we also know that the Romans also seems to have perhaps mistranslated these sounds with people they lived next to, ex. the Etruscans - Note here ex. that the Romans wrote Tages for what was likely Tarchies in Etruscan etc. (a child looking god of divination central for their religion, since divination was the central pillar there) As a side note regarding the different name forms of Odin, then note that Denmark apart from the folklore/folkbelief versions of the Name Odin/Woden, also show the same difference in terms of town names, ex. Odense vs. Vojens, where Vojens are mentioned first time in 1421 as Wodens (the -se/s are likely as shortning from Odins Vi, with a Vi being a holy place, shrine etc.), while Odense has been mentioned with front O, or W, depending on local dialects on the isle Funen, ex. in 1075 as Odansue (W sounds seems to be centered on the north-western part of the isle, likely due to Jutish influence). In short, just with the O to W shift, then Denmark seems to be the splitzone between North Germanic and Northsea Germanic, with most of the eastern isles being North Germanic dialect(s) (To be fair, then further splits like western vs. eastern Nordic seems to have been an obsolete idea from the start, as ex. Rasmus Rask already noted in the 1800'ies that at least Jutland seemed to be more in the western branch, and likely older Germanic does not Exactly follow terms like North, West, and Eastern Germanic either, even if we add the more speculative Northsea Germanic to the mix..). Regarding the attempts to translate the text, then I speculate that part of it might be misunderstood, but I'll admit I have only read about segments of it, and not seen the text it self. The part that makes me wonder, is the part about what is now presumed to be a person called Jagaz, and a wordplay on hunter perhaps. The reason I wonder is because one of the aspects of the Odins cult that have survived up til my grandparents childhood, is the one about the wild hunters, i,e. in Danish Jægerne (to Jage, one Jager, several Jægere etc.) - Ex. my fathers parents used still in the 70'ies to put a sheaf over the door in december for the "hunters horse" as they said, while those that was afraid of them put iron or steel over the door.. Folklore also states that one could devote one self to become a hunter after death, just as the fact that the king Valdemar Atterdag is believed to be one of the hunters, in parts of Denmark, what points to the idea that rulers etc. automatically was believed to perhaps become these, if they in particular degree has shown to have devoted themselves to the country? As such Jagaz might not be a name, and the bracteate might be a token to ensure that the owner becomes one of the hunters after death?
Thank you so much for informing us what it actually says in proto-norse. I have looked through several Danish articles about this, but none actually stated stated what the inscription sounded like. I tried looking at pictures of the bracteate myself, but the only word I could make out was Wodnas.
The best part about investigating and studying proto-Norse is that the written evidence exists and new finds are being made. How amazing would it be to have early examples of proto-Slavic or any language in central-eastern europe in the 1st century AD, an area so close to the Roman and Greek worlds yet just beyond our reach.
"The origins of Hunnish Runic Writing" from Varga Géza. A primordial being is mentioned several times...Jima (Imir?) I love that book. Its full of truths.
This is so cool, thank you for keeping us up to date on all of this awesome news. It's so exciting to know there is still new stuff being found and expanding our understanding.
It's always wild to realize how little info there is available to scholars. Their conclusions are usually very restrained, but always open to great shakeups as well.
Scholars are seldom open to shakeups. Egyptian Scholars being the worst of them. The issue is they are so entrenched in what they know, that anything new is seen as a discredit to their expertise; which it isn’t!
Hol' up. This is crazy. We never had an inscription of the Proto-Germanic form of Wen? This is the first time? I love how insanely close it is to the reconstruction. Props to the linguists. Too bad they didn't get it exactly right though. I mean we didn't see the nominative form yet so who knows!
It's "jæger" [yaigh-er] = hunter in Danish & "at jage" [yagh-e] = to hunt. jagt [yAgt] = hunt ( noun) So maybe these words existed all along in Scandinavia - and are not later influences from Low German?
@@Bjowolf2 That's not what I meant. I just meant that these are the same word in different eras and places and that Dutch has been very conservative in sound (standard Dutch that is). (Only read this part if you are interested in linguistics and ethnicity in Holland) Although actually in the native folk language along the coast it's also "jæger" (e.g. Katwijk). Supposedly these tongues have Ings influence. How that came to be, here's what I think. Tacitus describes North of the Rhine (that's the old Rhine running through Katwijk) the Frisii lived. And in Karls time the Frisians also ruled over parts below the Rhine which are now Zeeland and the southern part of South Holland. So you could say we are Frisians here. But also of course the Franks conquered the area already 1200 years ago. Maybe that's why there's such a significant difference between countryside language (Frisian?) and citiy language (Frankish?).
I was surprised to see you haven’t made any videos about the wild hunt. I think this would be a fantastic topic for you to address, as it’s an object of great fascination and great online misinformation.
The fact that this phrase appears on a gold pendant (certainly a high-status item for its time) shows how much older the worship of Odin must have been. So much history has been lost to time. It is impossible to know when the worship began, but it's roots probably go back for thousands of years before this pendant...to the ancient stories of the Bronze Age and the Stone Age before that. Culture runs deep.
One thing we do know is that most all of the "Norse" gods were not worshiped anywhere before the first millenium BC, because the "Norse" did not exist until around then. What we think of as "Norse" people were the result of a later Indo-European invasion from the east, who adapted their deities to accommodate the traditions of the people who lived there before their invasion. We know very little about the deities that were worshiped by Scandinavian cultures before this invasion, although we do know that their leader was likely the god who was renamed "Tyr", and has his hand cut off symbolically in Norse mythology symbolizing how he was kicked out as head of the pantheon. We also know that the goddess who got renamed and syncretized with Frey was extremely important to the culture, and ruled all things mysterious and magical. We know a decent amount about Indo-European deities from before the invasion, and there is no god equivalent or close to Odin. So what seems most likely is that the patriarchal Indo-European invaders were very uncomfortable integrating such a powerful female deity into their religion, so they just made up a male version - Odin - who was really the best at magic and fortune telling and whatever.
@@Ballosopheraptor Thank you for your learned response. I would, however, disagree with ascribing modern sensibilities to ancient peoples. To suggest that Odin's roots are not derived from some ancient myth or cultural expression (which might remain unknown to us) but were simply made up at the whim of some all-powerful patriarchy is QUITE the stretch and smacks of a very modern lens applied to truths hidden in the mists of time.
@Ballosopheraptor I just watched a video about this religion. It was a common religion for germanic tripes all over Europe. The fact that everyone thinks of it as norse religion is that this was the last area that was christianized. Most of the old germanic tribes had no writen tradition and only the nors sagas have been writen down and then only several hundred years after it died out. The rune stones paint a very incomplete picture of the history.
@@dennistofvesson6351 Thanks for your input. Renewed interest in these old traditions should help understanding grow. I am fascinated by all the recent discoveries from all around the globe...from Gobekli Tepe to the "He Is Odin's Man" medallion.
@@grampsizzakilla7981 But we know Odin/Woden worship was secondary to Thor at an earlier phase because of the density of inscriptions and the writing of Romans like Tacitus. This makes sense since Thor as a storm/weather god was likely cognate with Zeus (though the Romans associated him with Hercules in their time so even by the beginning of the first millennium AD he was a giant/monster-slayer). So Woden/Odin as the primary “all-father” god was likely a tradition of the first millennium.
This is a really exciting find! I really appreciate you sharing it, and your expertise, with us, and look forward to seeing more from you. I'm sorry you've felt bad lately, and hope you are fully recovered soon.
I know it's parasocial but as a Patreon supporter I always feel like Jackson's speaking directly to me. Silly, I know, but it's a nice feeling. So glad I watched to the end of the video.
As an Icelandic speaker I can easily understand how Óðnn could become Óðinn later but if it had been spelled Óðn with only one n it would not become Óðin (based on modern Icelandic). Similar to maðr becoming maður.
This is an awesome channel. Glad to have found it. I'd like to add, in relation to the "chaotic" alternation of right-to-left/left-to-right writing, it's referred to in ancient Greek as 'boustrophedon' which means 'as the Ox plows'. That may be a more memorable & meaningful way to think of it. Keep up the Great Work! Philology is making a comeback! Huzzah!
Considering the fact that the pronoun "ir", the name "wothnaz" and the word "jaga" are all much more closely related to modern German than Scandinavian languages, shouldn't we come to the conclusion that this find is actually NOT written in Old Norse or proto-Old Norse at all, but rather in a West Germanic language? And wouldn't this also coincide with the fact that this was found in Southern Jutland, an area then inhabited by the Jutes, which we assume to be a west-germanic tribe? I mean we know that Jutland was only later conquered by the Danes, with the Jutes leaving to Britain.
I want to be a patreon and I hope I will be able to, as soon as possible. I highly appreciate your time, effort and passion put into your work Dr. Crawford.
The Latin word "vir" means man (male person, rather than human in general). David Miano's series about British archaeology pointed out that the Roman town Viroconium was "The town of the werewolf." "Uiroku" was apparently a Brythonic word for werewolf.
Really love how he always gives us those little hints and tips for new people seeing one of his videos for the first time like the ð or þ and what they sound like
I've heard in a number of places that the latin rendition of Odin was Othinus. I first heard it in a light novel series, then checked it a number of times. Of course I may be mistakes, likely am, but it would line up with what im hearing here with Wōthunaz splitting off into different itterations including Odin before merging back together into Othinus when it was brought over into Latin.
In Afrikaans: Woede(n) - Means rage or anger. Woeden[aar] - Means someone who rages. The word 'woedenaar' does not formally exist in Afrikaans (probably due to lack of necessity). But based on our language rules, 'woedenaar' would have this meaning.
It says on the wiktionary Vir is a cognate with Weraz, Vir coming from proto italic *Wiros which comes from PIE *wiHrós which is the common ancestor of both Vir and Weraz.
What if the vowel a/e/i developed after the -az suffix was dropped. Wodnaz is perfectly pronouncable, but Wodn? You automatically insert a vowel to make it work, so you get Wodan/Woden/Wodin. The other solution is of course dropping the d, which happens in both English Wednesday and Dutch Woensdag.
There are towns (suburbs of Wolverhampton) named after Woden in the West Midlands, in the former kingdom of Mercia: Wednesbury, Wednesfield, in which the "d" is softened or elided along with the middle vowel. Hundreds of miles away, Edinburgh may be contracted to "Embro" by the locals, but that is supposed to be "Edwin's Burgh" rather than anything to do with Odin. Here we see unstressed -d*n- contracting to -nn-.
Nothing hard in pronouncing Woðn. There should be some pattern for your guess to be true, like this happens because of illegalness of ðn on the end of the word. I don't know if there is such, but you certainly can't just randomly insert vowels
@@F_A_F123 I mean, look at Icelandic. The 'r' directly after a consonant was a bit too hard so they inserted the 'u'. ON: Baldr, Icelandic Baldur. Also, it doesn't have to be hard, just inconvenient. Just like bilabial ph(f) is inconvenient and is thus often replaced by a dental fricative.
@@faramund9865 if in Icelandic it happens everywhere where there's such combination of phonemes in such a place, then it's a pattern (which it probably is). Is there such pattern in the Old Norse? Because it just can't be an individual case for only 1 word P.s. if it's a pattern, then it should be proven (obviously)
The word is boda/bewed. It means to be married/wedded. Aka the oath of marriage. The bond which Odin is the God of. The God of binding two hearts in one which is madness. Love is madness. Love is the oath of all oaths. So the God of Gods would be the God of the chiefest of oaths which is love. Oh and with every bond there must be a ceremonial ritual and a feast! Which to the uninitiated such a liss of resources and time and decency is called madness and the mad become persecuted. But you gotta fight for your right to party!
This is great stuff @JacksonCrawford - Wishing you the best as well. Take care. You have more help out there than you may realize, just be sure to ask for it friend. Be well.
I am not an expert, but according to the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English dictionary the word jaga is used in Málsháttakvæði in a slightly different meaning: heyrinkunn er frá hǫ́num saga, hvat þarf ek of slíkt at jaga.
There might be even older sources, note Codanus sinus for the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea, and Codannovia for Scandinavia, from Pomponius Mela, and Pliny the older, who wrote at the beginning of the first century AD. Apart from the more known forms of the name Odin/Wodan etc. then we know that the Langobards/Lombards had the form Godan for Odin, and something similar (Goen/Goden) exist for one of the Jutish versions of the wild hunters, i.e from folklore/folkbelief, apart from forms with front U etc. (front O and W/V are just the more common versions it seems), what also seems to follow dialect borders to some degree, within Jutland. Garbled versions of Germanic tribe names etc., written down by Roman and Greek sources are not that uncommon either, as the information about these often likely came down over several inbetween persons, often as strange unfamiliar languages, with the errors that could make... Add to it that Latin itself over time underwent a number of sound changes, ex. with the C from a hard near K sound, to softer sounds, and in that light Codan etc. is not that far of from Godan etc. Regarding the sound values of C, K, and G sounds in Latin, then we also know that the Romans also seems to have perhaps mistranslated these sounds with people they lived next to, ex. the Etruscans - Note here ex. that the Romans wrote Tages for what was likely Tarchies in Etruscan etc. (a child looking god of divination central for their religion, since divination was the central pillar there) As a side note regarding the different name forms of Odin, then note that Denmark apart from the folklore/folkbelief versions of the Name Odin/Woden, also show the same difference in terms of town names, ex. Odense vs. Vojens, where Vojens are mentioned first time in 1421 as Wodens (the -se/s are likely as shortning from Odins Vi, with a Vi being a holy place, shrine etc.), while Odense has been mentioned with front O, or W, depending on local dialects on the isle Funen, ex. in 1075 as Odansue (W sounds seems to be centered on the north-western part of the isle, likely due to Jutish influence). In short, just with the O to W shift, then Denmark seems to be the splitzone between North Germanic and Northsea Germanic, with most of the eastern isles being North Germanic dialect(s) (To be fair, then further splits like western vs. eastern Nordic seems to have been an obsolete idea from the start, as ex. Rasmus Rask already noted in the 1800'ies that at least Jutland seemed to be more in the western branch, and likely older Germanic does not Exactly follow terms like North, West, and Eastern Germanic either, even if we add the more speculative Northsea Germanic to the mix..). Regarding the attempts to translate the text, then I speculate that part of it might be misunderstood, but I'll admit I have only read about segments of it, and not seen the text it self. The part that makes me wonder, is the part about what is now presumed to be a person called Jagaz, and a wordplay on hunter perhaps. The reason I wonder is because one of the aspects of the Odins cult that have survived up til my grandparents childhood, is the one about the wild hunters, i,e. in Danish Jægerne (to Jage, one Jager, several Jægere etc.) - Ex. my fathers parents used still in the 70'ies to put a sheaf over the door in december for the "hunters horse" as they said, while those that was afraid of them put iron or steel over the door.. Folklore also states that one could devote one self to become a hunter after death, just as the fact that the king Valdemar Atterdag is believed to be one of the hunters, in parts of Denmark, what points to the idea that rulers etc. automatically was believed to perhaps become these, if they in particular degree has shown to have devoted themselves to the country? As such Jagaz might not be a name, and the bracteate might be a token to ensure that the owner becomes one of the hunters after death?
So what does "Odin's man" actually refer to? A priest or other religious magistrate? Was this bracteate something that identified the wearer as a representative of Odin?
I watched a program on this a couple of days ago, where one of the leading researchers on this was participating. The fact that the treasure found had such high value, also makes them suspect that it belonged to a local king/chieftain. His name is inscribed on the plates as well. I find it quite fascinating - especially when something like this is found so close to where I live. And it's true that we long suspected that Óðinn was a god fairly early, but it's still awesome that they found proof of it. Vindelev where they found the treasure isn't far from Jelling, where King Harald Blåtand, (Bluetooth), buried his parents King Gorm and Queen Thyra...
@@indigomer6801 That’s really cool, would make Gorm and Thyra your 39th Grandparents or so. You should definitely go if you become able to! If you like Norse history of the late bronze, the iron, and what we call the Viking age, then Denmark is packed with places to visit. Some of it doesn’t necessarily look like much, but has incredible history behind it. Whether it’s hills with Bronze/Iron Age burial mounds, remains of old fortifications, or the museums. Jelling where Gorm and Thera was buried is also the site of the Jelling rune stone, collegially called "the baptism certificate of Denmark" And if you go there, the nearest airport, (Billund Airport), also happens to be in the town where the original Legoland, the LEGO-House, (and the LEGO factory), is! It’s also only around an hours drive away from the Moesgaard Museum, (just south of Denmark second largest "city", Aarhus), which is one of the must see Museums, (they’re also currently safe keepers of a large portion of artefacts from Ukraine due to an exhibition that started before the war about Vikings in Ukraine - unfortunately Russia isn’t only trying to occupy and annex Ukraine, they’re also trying to eradicate Ukrainian culture and own history, so the museums the artefacts belong to has asked Moesgaard Museum to keep it until it can be safely returned). The absolute best time for anyone with love for the Viking age to visit Moesgaard is during Viking Week, during the summer holiday, then there’s live reenactment. But of course, this usually also means lot of people! Around an hours drive north of Aarhus, you’ll find the Viking Fortification FYRKAT, near Hobro, and an hours drive away from that you’ll find Aggersborg. Both are old ring-fortifications, "Trelleborge", most likely build on order by Harald Bluetoot, and we have five of them in Denmark. The oldest and largest is Aggersborg, but there’s not much to see there, so it’s more about the experience of being in a place with such historical significance! There’s more to see at Fyrkat where there during the summertime also are reenactment, so a good chance to meet "Viking warriors", and of course, merchants and craftsmen! If you got time to spare, there’s also a place you can go visit, that may, or may not, have historical significance! I’ve made a small video you can watch on my channel about the place! It’s less than an hour north of Aarhus, on Amleth Heath - where there’s a burial mound named after Amleth. Now the burial mound is from before the time King Amleth allegedly lived, but it is mentioned that he died at a battle and was buried on Amleth heath! Now there’s also the possibility that it happened in North Western part of Jutland - at least there is old stories saying so! In the middle of Jutland, very close to Jelling, you’ll also find the Ox Road/Army Road - this is on the ridge of Jutland, and it has been used as a route of transport connecting north and south for several millennias! It’s also close to this you’ll find one of the oldest known larger settlements that still exist as a town, Viborg, a very cozy "city", (by American standards you would probably call it a town, but it has a Cathedral so it’s technically a city)! In the Western part of Jutland, you’ll find Bork Viking harbour! And it’s also worth it taking a trip down to Northern Germany, to where Hedeby was, and of course, Dannewerk, an old fortification that was spanning across the country from the North Sea to the Baltic Sea! Of course you will also have to go to Roskilde and see the old ships at Roskilde Viking Ship museum, and then there’s the best kept of all the Trelleborge, Trelleborg, where they also have a Viking week, and at the last part of the week, there’s the Battle about Trelleborg! You will of course also have to go to Lejre, just north of Roskilde, where you’ll find both the Land of Legends and Lejre Museum! Lehre is one of the very old settlements as well, and at the time of Harald Blåtand, it was the seat of a rivalling kingdom, which he conquered , and "United the Danes"…. Of course there’s also a lot to see if you go to Norway and Sweden as well! But if your interest is seeing places where Harald Bluetooth played a role, it’s definitely Denmark!
I've been to the Jelling stone, the experience was quite moving, especially visiting the grave mound of the last of the Pagan queens. I wish I had the context for the bigger picture and depth of history I do now (for an American enthusiest) this was early 2000's, but I absorbed so much as I was fortunate to have Danish hosts who toured me around and it's become a life long passion.
@@gorillaguerillaDK Yes to all of this, not sure if I visited all you mentioned but seeing the ships in Roskilde and museum exhibits was phenominal, right up there with the National Museum. Really so much touched me, a surprising visit was to a Farm Museum in Jutland, with an exhibit of the Danish kitchen over the last 1000 years. I still think of that often, an absolute gem that many tourists may miss unless visiting friends in the area. Treasures everywhere, I hope to visit again.
@@achuvadia Was it the Farm Museum at the Gammel Estrup Manor? I have a video on my channel, recorded at "Amleth Heath", one of the possible sites where King Amlóði, (King Amleth), might have died. This is maybe 10-15 minutes drive away from Gammel Estrup, the manor/castle where there's a farm museum, might very well be the one you visited!?
thank you, when i heard the viking valhalla actor and maker, said that we did not have a written language it made me sad how little they know about the era and make a tv show
I am relatively new to you, but so far, I am super impressed with how easy you make this to understand !!! Thank you very much greatly appreciated , all the way from Oklahoma !!!
Now I have to wonder if "mad god" was originally a kenning introduced in a lost story somewhere, where the name and the kenning eventually became two distinct gods.... Maybe that hunter reference is related to an even older identity? It doesn't seem like much to go on. Do any of the academic debates even cover that topic?
Could it be that the name had a 'ə' between the 'þ' and the 'n' that was spoken but had no glyph to represent it? That way, later writers could interpret the 'ə' in many different ways and form structures around it. If it was widespread in that early form, loads of people could have imposed their own linguistic structures upon it.
I was so excited when I saw this lovely news! I hope we'll find more. Next time in Sweden, that's what I hope for :-) And this was a very good summary, always a pleasure to watch your videos.
Thanks for this video. Danish guy here. I just came to think of the loss of the W. Word becomes ord. Could this be due to the loss of the W from the older to the younger futhark. Both W and O are replaced with the U, and E is replaced with the I. This means that Woden and Odin are actually spelled the same way, assuming that you wouldn't put two U's next to each other to write Wo.
Maybe I am quoting old knowledge that has been superseded by something new but I always thought most of what is now Denmark was originally inhabited by speakers of North Sea Germanic more closely related to English and Frisian then. If that’s true the connection to proto old Norse might not be that direct.
The ending -lev is present in some of the oldest place names, at least in Denmark and Sweden. In front of -lev will be a man's name (ancient). If interpreting -lev as meaning grave (as it's Gothic cognate does), we have Herlev from Harju's grave, Skuldelev from Skjold's grave (founder of the Scylding dynasty) and here in Vindelev where the inscription was found - Vinde's? grave. Those must all have been 'stormænd' or chieftains and as such - at least documented later - in charge of the Odin cult. Every new discovery these years add much to our understanding of the power structure.
but how, in any case, can an unstressed non-long vowel in the weak part of a trochee manage to express itself every time, and not eventually delete? the metrical foot is already complete with a long closed syllable, so prosodically speaking there is no use at all for that short vowel. germanic trochaic prosodic structure would override the morphology! just like it had been doing ever since Indo-European and/or whatever substrate, and still today. morphology withers in the face of germanic prosody (unless it's in the trochee). the expiratory accent fuels it, too. syllables collapse because the foot take top priority. morphology secondary. vowel quality secondary.
It's amazing how unstable the R phoneme is across languages and how it has a relation with sibilants like S (or sh, zh). There is the Czech ř or in Polish rz documents an r becoming zh. In Spanish there are speakers who say things like "amors or hacers" due to their r sliding into s as they speak.
Im the teail odin blind in my tight eye homeless and poor with very little help at all located mount shasta California everyone will need a pure copper thurmos bottle im also the father of JESUS my son thor beleaved in jesus also
You put that video on RU-vid where eight thousand people were gonna see it. That's a lot of people; probably more than saw any of your academic papers.
jagaz - cognates in danish : *Jagt or maybe even *Jæger , literally hunt and hunter respectively i'm danish myself, therefore i can say this with certainty ;)
So perhaps the original scribes had a speech impediment that caused them to pronounce R as W. Like wacky wabbit. Thus wodin is actually Rodin. Great info just kidding about the prior .
Weraz for man sounds a lot like Latin vir. And the -az endings remind me of Greek -os and Latin -us endings. Maybe it's an Indo-European thing and all ancient Indo-European languages were closer back then and hadn't diverged as much as today?
Thanks for the freedom from mysticism! Indeed. I hardly ever watch content about anything ON or Proto-N anymore, because of all the fanboi / neo-pagan / etc. baloney. As one who read runestones for fun 40 years ago, before it was cool, I have sorrowed to see the whole field dragged down into that pit of offal.
what's the relation between the word Man WERAZ in old norse and the word Man ARGAZ, ARYAZ, in berber language in north Africa. the more i read about old norse and modern scandinavian languages the more i find some similar words with the berber language. even the letter Z in old norse and in berber language looks similar, Z in old norse ᛉ , Z in berber language ⵣ
For discernment: Dialects around the world tend to appear at roughly the same time. This is a form of cryptic translation for overall aptitude of historical facts. Human errors have occurred in the timeline of linguistic history. Example: "proto" type dialects exist as a form of evidence which proves that Intervention without Conscious Intent happens no matter what the circumstances; as all life is bound beneath the sky.
So if "iz" is "he" en not "han". and "Weraz" is found in both english and frisian. And "Wodnas" is not the form you expected. and Jagaz isn't scandinavian either... what is it that actually makes this a norse inscription? because all the words seem to point in the direction of languages like english and frisian.
Is it possible that a vowel is missing in "Wodnaz" because the vowel sound was understood to be present by whoever created the inscription and did not need to be explicitly rendered? In other words, might a reader have pronounced it as "Wodinaz" or "Wodanaz" despite the lack of a character representing a vowel sound?
nope what it says is "Isa Algiz, or I Algiz, Wodua Swe A Algiz" this can translate to "calm in Odin's Svea" or "I am Woden in Svea." Svea meaning Svearike, or Sweden/Sverige. the Algiz is a part of the, besvergelse as it's called in Norwegian, or the formula in english.
about the Z being R. . there are some dialekts in Nord-Norge where the R is prononced as an voiced S (Z). I dont know that much about the origins of this, but it may decend from an verry old pronouncicion of that letter or phonem. Could it be that these dialects have held to this from long ago ? or could it be a development through out all the years, back from Z to R to Z again?
Oh yeah it might be the same there! It does seem very similar. The genitive in Ole English could have been Wēdnes, I think, since it’s Wōden/Wōdnes in the textbook dialect of OE, although I don’t know enough to be sure
Does this lead anyone to thoughts on other vowel origin disputes that might be answered by vowel insertion? (I don't know if my wording here is right -- I'm not a linguist)
Super exciting!!! I wonder if that bindrune does incorporate a runic nauðiz, but where it would normally have a strikethrough, maybe the writer put what would be the strikethrough at the top? Almost like a cursive thing.
In western Norway (Eidfjord) we use two words for hunting: Veida (pron. vejja) and jakta, which comes from jaga, which means 'to chase'. We use that about chasing sheep away, fx. It is a very different use than the german, and is connected to the very ancient everyday activity of looking after your crops. I'm pretty sure we did not get that from the germans in the late middle ages.
Unclear.whether that is different from German. It used to have a distinction. What today is "Jäger" would be called "Weidmann" or something similar if you go back far enough. That "to drive off" is still "verjagen", which does not mean "hunt down", as one might expect, in modern German suggests to me that Norwegian has kept an old distinction. Do you have something related to "hetzen" as a verb or the noun "Hatz"? It should be "hetta" or something like that.
