Meldorf fibula
The Meldorf fibula is a
Inscription
The inscription, found on the
Interpretations
Düwel and Gebühr (1981) suggest that the inscription contains four runes, reading (left to right) hiwi, which they interpret as meaning "for the spouse" or "mater familias". Attested cognates and related words would include: Old Saxon and Old High German hīwa, "spouse"; Old Saxon and Old High German hīwiski, "family"; Old Saxon hīwian and Old High German hīwan, "to marry"; Gothic heiwa- in heiwa-frauja, "master of the house" or "husband". This interpretation has been widely criticised as epigraphically and linguistically irregular, however (Odenstedt 1989, Mees 1997).
Düwel's interpretation gained renewed attention with the discovery of Wijnaldum B, a small golden pendant of possibly Mediterranean origin dated to ca. 600 CE, in
Odenstedt (1989) interprets the inscription as being composed in the Latin alphabet, reading (right to left) IDIN, which he translates as a personal name, the gender of which remains uncertain; if feminine "for Ida", if masculine, "for Iddo". Seebold (1994) also agrees with this interpretation.
Mees (1997), like Düwel, interprets the inscription as runic, but instead reads (right to left) iṛiḷi, which he translates as "to the (rune-)master".
Other possible readings include Latin nidi, runic or Latin irih, hiri, or runic iwih, iþih, hiþi.
The fibula is kept in
See also
- Negau helmet
External links
- Drawing originally from Düwel/Gebühr (1981) (Handbok i norrøn filologi)
References
- Anderson, Carl Edlund (2005); The Runic System as a Reinterpretation of Classical Influences and as an Expression of Scandinavian Cultural Affiliation [1]
- Düwel, Klaus (1981), The Meldorf Fibula and the Origin of Runic Writing in Michigan Germanic Studies no. 7, pp. 8–14.
- Düwel, Klaus/Gebühr, Michael (1981); Die Fibel von Meldorf und die Anfänge der Runenschrift in Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur no. 110, pp. 159–75.
- Düwel, Klaus (1994), ed., Runische Schriftkultur in ERGA no. 10, Berlin, New York.
- Düwel, Klaus (2001); Runenkunde, Weimar: J. B. Metzger, pp. 23–4, 87. ISBN 3-476-13072-X
- Hines, John, and Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm (2021) eds., Frisians of the Early Middle Ages, Woodbridge: Boydell.
- Looijenga, Tineke (1997); Runes Around the North Sea and on the Continent AD 150-700, Groningen: SSG Uitgeverij; pg. 129, 186. [2]
- Looijenga, Tineke (2021); Runic literacy in north-west Europe, with a focus on Frisia, in Hines and IJssennagger-van der Pluijm (2021), pp. 375-400.
- Mees, Bernard (1997); A New Interpretation of the Meldorf Fibula Inscription in Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur no. 126, pp. 131–39.
- Odenstedt, Bengt (1989); Further Reflections on the Meldorf Inscription in Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur no. 118, pp. 77–85.
- ISBN 90-04-12875-1.
- Seebold, Elmar (1994); Die sprachliche Deutung und Einordnung der archaischen Runeninschriften in Düwel (1994), pp. 56–94.