Ribe healing-stick
The Ribe healing stick (with Rundata signum DR EM85;493, also known as DK SJy41) is a pinewood stick found at Ribe, Denmark, with a heavily pagan-inspired Christian spell. It dates to circa 1300 CE.[1]
Description
[edit]![A photograph of the third side (§C) of the stick, showing the words þær : ligær : a : þe : ni : no=uþær : þæ¶r](http://up.wiki.x.io/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Kat_nr_066_Pinne_av_tr%C3%A4%2C_l%C3%A4kesticka%2C_fr%C3%A5n_Danmark_-_KMB_-_16000300015558.jpg/220px-Kat_nr_066_Pinne_av_tr%C3%A4%2C_l%C3%A4kesticka%2C_fr%C3%A5n_Danmark_-_KMB_-_16000300015558.jpg)
Although ostensibly Christian, the charm written on the stick contains several native Germanic elements, such as alliteration and phrases also known from pagan poetry.
The phrase 'nine needs' (ni : no=uþær) appears in several explicitly pagan charms, such as the Swedish Sigtuna plate 1[2] and the Icelandic spell-book Galdrabók. The term læknæshand ("healing hand") is found in a pagan prayer in the Icelandic poem Sigrdrífumál, while the phrase "heavens above" or "high heaven" (uphimæn, literally "up-heaven") is used in Vǫluspá and in Old Saxon and Old English religious poetry as well as in the inscription on the Skarpåker Stone.[3][4]
Inscription
[edit]The stick has five sides. The final part of line C (after ¶r) has been scraped off with a knife, but faint traces of the runes are still visible. The following readings are from the Scandinavian Runic-text Database.[1] Note that because the fifth side only contains the words þæt : se, it has been included in line D.
᛭
io=rþ
Iorþ
:
biþ
biþ
a=k
ak
:
ua=rþæ
uarþæ
:
o=k
ok
:
uphimæn
uphimæn,
:
so=l
sol
:
o=k
ok
:
sa=nt=æ
santæ
maria
Maria
:
o=k
ok
:
salfæn
sialfæn
:
gud|
Guþ
|drotæn
drottin,
:
þæt
þæt
han
han
:
læ
læ
mik
mik
:
læknæs:ha=nd
læknæshand
:
o=k
ok
lif:tuggæ
lif-tungæ
:
at=
at
=liuæ
liuæ
I pray Earth to guard and High Heaven, the sun and Saint Mary and Lord God himself, that he grant me medicinal hands and healing tongue to heal
uiuindnæ
biuianda
:
þær
ær
:
botæ
bota
:
þa=rf
þarf
:
or
or
:
ba=k
bak
:
o=k
ok
or
or
brʀst
bryst,
:
or
or
lækæ
likæ
:
o=k
ok
or
or
lim
lim,
:
or
or
øuæn
øwæn
:
o=k
ok
or
or
øræn
øræn,
:
or
or
:
a=llæ
allæ
þe
þe
:
þær
þær
:
ilt
ilt
:
kan
kan
i
i
at
at
the Trembler when a cure is needed. From back and from breast, from body and from limb, from eyes and from ears, from wherever evil can
kumæ
kumæ.
:
suart
Svart
:
hetær
hetær
:
sten
sten,
:
ha=n
han
:
stær
stær
:
i
i
:
hafæ
hafæ
:
utæ
utæ
:
þær
þær
:
ligær
ligær
:
a
a
:
þe
þe
:
ni
ni
:
no=uþær
nouþær,
:
þæ¶r
þær
:
l---r(a)
…
:
(þ)en-nþþæþeskulhuærki
…
enter. A stone is called Svartr (black), it stands out in the sea, there lie upon it nine needs, who …
skulæ
skulæ
:
huærki
huærki
:
søtæn
søtæn
:
sofæ
sofæ
:
æþ
æþ
:
uarmnæn
uarmæn
:
uakæ
uakæ
:
førr
førr
æn
æn
:
þu
þu
:
þæssa
þæssæ
:
bot
bot
:
biþær
biþær,
:
þær
þær
:
a=k
ak
o=rþ
orþ
:
at
at
kæþæ
kæþæ
:
ro=nti
ronti.
:
amæn
Amen
:
o=k
ok
:
þæt
þæt
:
se
se.
᛭
shall neither sleep sweetly nor wake warmly until you pray this cure which I have proclaimed in runic words. Amen and so be it.
Gallery
[edit]-
Side 1, starting with ᛭ io=rþ : biþ a=k.
-
Side 2, starting with uiuindnæ : þær.
-
Side 3, starting with kumæ : suart.
-
Side 4, starting with skulæ : huærki.
-
Side 5, þæt : se ᛭.
See also
[edit]- Against a dwarf
- The 500-years older Ribe skull fragment.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Runic inscription DR EM85;493", Scandinavian Runic-text Database, Department of Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala University, 2020, retrieved December 5, 2021
- ^ Sofia Pereswetoff-Morath, Viking-Age runic plates. Readings and interpretations. Acta Academiae Gustavi Adolphi 155. Runrön 21. Uppsala 2019. pp. 95-97. ISSN 0065-0897 and 1100-1690, ISBN 978-91-87403-33-0.
- ^ MacLeod, Mindy; Mees, Bernard (2006), Runic Amulets and Magic Objects, Boydell Press, pp. 124–26, ISBN 1-84383-205-4
- ^ Larson, Patrick (2005). "Runes". In McTurk, Rory (ed.). A Companion to Old Norse-Icelandic Literature and Culture. Blackwell Publishing. pp. 403–426. ISBN 0-631-23502-7. pp. 413-14.