Kan fornisländskans rúnar betyda “bokstäver”?
This article argues that Old Norse rúnar cannot have the unqualified meaning ‘letters’, but only ‘runes’ or, rarely, ‘another type of script than the ordinary’. The meaning ‘letters’ in dictionaries and translations is derived from Latin, which has no word for ‘runes’, and where the natural transla...
| Published in: | Scripta Islandica: Isländska Sällskapets Årsbok |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | Swedish |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10852/90787 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-93384 https://doi.org/10.33063/diva-439404 |
| Summary: | This article argues that Old Norse rúnar cannot have the unqualified meaning ‘letters’, but only ‘runes’ or, rarely, ‘another type of script than the ordinary’. The meaning ‘letters’ in dictionaries and translations is derived from Latin, which has no word for ‘runes’, and where the natural translation of rúnar is therefore litterae ‘letters’. When Latin translations were subsequently reverted into the vernacular, the additional meaning ‘letters’ entered scholarly literature on the subject. This is true not only of Old Norse, but also of Old English and Old High German. This observation can provide us with more secure readings of some textual passages and, more importantly, allows us to follow the expression of attitudes towards runes in Iceland in the period c. 1150–1350. |
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