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
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
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.
Runic transliteration
- §A ᛭ io=rþ : biþ a=k : ua=rþæ : o=k : uphimæn : so=l : o=k : sa=nt=æ maria : o=k : salfæn : gud| |drotæn : þæt han : læ mik : læknæs:ha=nd : o=k lif:tuggæ : at= =liuæ
- §B uiuindnæ : þær : botæ : þa=rf : or : ba=k : o=k or brʀst : or lækæ : o=k or lim : or øuæn : o=k or øræn : or : a=llæ þe : þær : ilt : kan i at
- §C kumæ : suart : hetær : sten : ha=n : stær : i : hafæ : utæ : þær : ligær : a : þe : ni : no=uþær : þæ¶r : l---r(a) : (þ)en-nþþæþeskulhuærki
- §D skulæ : huærki : søtæn : sofæ : æþ : uarmnæn : uakæ : førr æn : þu : þæssa : bot : biþær : þær : a=k o=rþ : at kæþæ : ro=nti : amæn : o=k : þæt : se ᛭
Old Danish normalisation
- §A Iorþ biþ ak uarþæ ok uphimæn, sol ok santæ Maria ok sialfæn Guþ drottin, þæt han læ mik læknæshand ok lif-tungæ at liuæ
- §B biuianda ær bota þarf or bak ok or bryst, or likæ ok or lim, or øwæn ok or øræn, or allæ þe þær ilt kan i at
- §C kumæ. Svart hetær sten, han stær i hafæ utæ þær ligær a þe ni nouþær, þær … …
- §D skulæ huærki søtæn sofæ æþ uarmæn uakæ førr æn þu þæssæ bot biþær, þær ak orþ at kæþæ ronti. Amen ok þæt se.
English translation
- §A 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
- §B 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
- §C enter. A stone is called Svartr (black), it stands out in the sea, there lie upon it nine needs, who …
- §D 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
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
- Against a dwarf
- The 500-years older Ribe skull fragment.
References
- "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.