Oldest Rune Find in Denmark

The discovery of the oldest dateable rune writing from Denmark has been announced, on a knife blade, and it potentially says 'hirila' ("little sword").
Jackson Crawford, Ph.D.: Sharing real expertise in Norse language and myth with people hungry to learn, free of both ivory tower elitism and the agendas of self-appointed gurus. Visit jacksonwcrawfo... (includes bio and linked list of all videos).
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[@JacksonCrawford]

I posted an image of the wrong video to look for at 3:05. The videos about 2023's discovery of the oldest known runic inscription are kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpDQY6uZpLpsh5I and kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3rRh32qrL6Ve9E (with Krister Vasshus). But 2023 had another major rune discovery, the "He is Odin's man" inscription from Denmark, discussed at kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqfIZWSuqbOCqac and kzbin.info/www/bejne/oma0hpycZqeAhKM (with Krister Vasshus).

[@gorillaguerillaDK]

There’s pictures of the knife if you search for; Danmark ældste runer fundet på et knivsblad på fyn

[@aaaaaaaaaaa5820]

Can you post the tiny link for the photo of the knife so that we don't have to type it out?

[@jakobinal]

Are you familiar with Stentoftenstenen and Björketorpstenen in Blekinge in Sweden?

[@hjalmarolethorchristensen9761]

Greetings from Skandinavia Danmark 🇩🇰 ...

[@kahn04]

I love the possibility of “little sword” in the same way as one might ironically name their tall friend “tiny”

[@alexandruianu8432]

Diminutives work like that anyway.

[@theodoricthegoth4027]

I think it fits Scandinavian humor to call the small blade a little sword, perhaps for a child? Either way very exciting.

[@mace8873]

Yup, that's _exactly_ something we'd do, but, to me it looks like a smaller piece of a longer blade.

[@gpjennett9819]

Certainly not a runologist, but I am a geologist, chemist, and metallurgist. I looked at the photo on the "Lille Sværd" website. I can see the dotted-in portion of the "H" , especially the inclined crossbar. I see it in the pattern of pitting and erosion of the metal. Of course, an electron micrograph of the etching would be more diagnostic than a lowres JPEG. Stripping away all of the oxides to look at the clean metal underneath would be even better, but not allowed. /|\ Gp

[@JarlTryggve]

Thank you, Norse Indiana Jones.

[@KalteGeist]

Indjana Yones.

[@stayhungry1503]

indiana norse

[@sidgartha8123]

Scandinavia Jones

[@earnestwanderer2471]

Colorado Crawford.

[@heilmodrhinnheimski]

Endi-Jani Jónssonr

[@Saironi]

Hey Jackson I am an American engineering student studying in Europe. I am so glad I found your channel, it teaches me so much about history in such an academic and grounded way , that I can just listen while I clean my room trashed with notes of equations and stale pizza. I could never have the mental energy to get down and read all of these amazing stories and learn so much history without you . Thanks so much.

[@JerehmiaBoaz]

14:17 Note that Dutch has the verb "knippen" which means to clip or cut with scissors, also a type of folding knife with an inward curved tip (so you can't stab with it) is called a "kneip"" in some Dutch and German dialects.

[@cosmopolit_]

german native speaker here. We got that word as "knipsen". Abknipsen for example means, to cut something off with a tool. Or to invalidate a ticket

[@ole7146]

In Danish the word for cutting with scissors is "klippe", the word "knibe" means pinch and "knipse" basically means snap.

[@kerstinej]

In Swedish the Word for cut with scissors is ”klippa” and ” knipa” is to pinch. Knipa av doesn’t have to be with a tool

[@JerehmiaBoaz]

@@kerstinej To pinch is "knijpen" in Dutch and "kneifen" in German (and "knibe" in Danish as Ole remarks). These words all seem related to me and if "knifr" is a late addition to Old Norse like Jackon says then perhaps it's a loanword from Old Saxon, but I'm not a linguist so I'm just speculating. (Sorry for the edits, I'm on phone.)

[@ofnair]

Swedish has both ”klippa” and ”knipsa”.

[@Matlacha_Painter]

I studied Old English, Old Irish etc at university in the 1970’s, and taught Law in higher education for 38 years, so, I have followed your channel and can appreciate your scholarship as well as your experience in the feudal academic world. I know you got bounced around. I hope your feet are firmly on the ground now. I wish you all the best. Illegitimi non carborundum.

[@JugglerOfWords]

I saw this randomly on the news the other day, and they said it meant "lille sværd" and they dated it to 150 AD..... and apparently they had stored the knife in a special extra dry room for months before they could clean the knife and read the runes.....

[@KalteGeist]

I can't help but think of that Dexters Laboratory episode with the Label maker. Just two well learned siblings carving runes into everything.

[@lakrids-pibe]

I haven't seen that episode, but I remember the fascination of label makers.

[@KalteGeist]

@lakrids-pibe Anyone who's played with a label maker as a child can fully understand why people thought runes were magic. "You can't eat these cookies, I put my name on them." ... "Witchcraft!"

[@barrakudos]

Seeing Johan Hegg, the singer of Amon Amarth, appear in a Jackson Crawford video (1:30 as the Grimfrost model) is somehow really gratifying.

[@TheRunpoker]

Thank you Jackson for making your experience available in such a kind and inspiring way. As a Dane I really appreciated learning about my country’s history this way💫

[@user-wi9hv2pb2q]

Always amazed at these gifts from the past that make their way to us. Without academics like Dr Crawford the meaning of the runes would be lost. Funny how a study of ancient languages can be so current in application.

[@BloodWolfXZ]

The best thing your videos have taught me is that the Norse really liked their jokes. I wouldn't put it past someone to have ironically named their utility/eating knife "little sword."

[@asorlokirunarsson9864]

Very excited about what the future holds concerning archeological finds in Scandinavia. Also love that it's just an inscription on a knife that says 'little knife/little sword'

[@christophermorgen8505]

Canif (m) [pocket knife] is also a loanword in French 😉

[@Blake_Stone]

I took a look at some examples of "erilaz", in the Jarsberg runestone, Veblugsnes inscriptions and Rosseland runes it's "irilaz" (sound change?), I think the By runes too but couldn't find a good picture of them. On the Stragnas stone the first letter is missing, the Bratsberg clasp has "erilaz" but it's just the top two lines of the "M" without the stems - looks like it's "borrowing" the adjacent stems of the "ek" (bindrune) and "r" but isn't quite attached. It's a nice clear "M" in the Lindholm amulet, in the Kragehul I spear haft it's a bindrune with the next letter (er/"MR"). So if it is an "e" the chances of it being irregular in some way seem high.

[@daneandorfer6187]

Thank you, Prof. Jackson. When internet forums were new, few, and far between. The anticipation of receiving good info lead to sleepless nights of wonder. Then I had to wait for an English publications which felt like years and sometimes was, Thank you for your dedication!

[@lakrids-pibe]

That's not a knife… THAT's a knife! [in germanic runes] I think a person on Fyn got their hands on a Dymo Label machine, and made labels for everything.

[@johanneswerner1140]

I was looking for that quote... And I like the Bart Simpson like "got to label everything" idea 🤣

[@Rreinholdt]

Tak Jackson !

[@bellafinispizza]

He wrote “little sword” on his pocket knife! Lol seems like humor was similar to today! That’s something I would do!

[@frankmostad2221]

Thanks Jackson... I found an image online and downloaded it. After adjusting the colouration I was able to read (left to right) "ATUILA". Reading right to left would be "ALIUTA". Where some see an "R", I see a "U". This is still early in the analysis... I'm just being provocative here so we don't become anchored to the initial findings. Cheers.

[@jamieflame01]

Jackson please remember that silent Danish "d". Oe'ense(Odense), Bånne(Bonde) I have faith in your linguistic talent, even in the case of Danish language

[@pfdrtom]

How cool it would be to have Dr. Crawford for a professor!

[@mcolville]

Man what a crazy time to be in runes! Invest now, the line only goes up!

[@AetherNoble]

Amazing to see a dramatic discovery like this being made in our lifetime. I’m sure it happens in the other archaeological areas like China or Africa, but they don’t have a dedicated video scholar like you.

[@sognatore6199]

"Erila" could also be related to the Proto-Indo-European *yeh₁r-, which means "summer", "spring, "furious". That's where the name of the Slavic god of spring "Jarila" comes from.

[@margomaloney6016]

THANK YOU for sharing this information and giving us your interpretation, Doc !! 😉

[@WaaDoku]

Very very interesting. Thank you for always giving us the best information available!

[@HVAC1actual]

great vid Jackson, appreciate these always!

[@herghamoo3242]

That sounds like a fun hypothesis, if people at that time sacrificed objects reminiscent of the meaning of their loved ones' names/nicknames. Would sorta explain the need to label the objects, if that name wasn't the most common name for that object.

[@HeerHalewijn]

I wish we could find a northern Paleo-European syllabary adopted by incoming Germanic peoples prior to Runes.

[@abbot29-ji1gq]

Thank you for presenting this!

[@nikburisson9-pissedoffpeasant-]

Thanks for sharing Ol' Doc Norse.

[@lizaliza8367]

Thanks, Prof. Jackson!

[@wbebbs]

Very fine looking paper.

[@jamiegallier2106]

Thank you, I always appreciate your videos.

[@lkjh861]

Fun fact, Odense comes from "Odin's Sø" (sea means lake in Danish) ~ how very appropriate for such an important find in Norse archaeology. Also where fairy tale author H.C. Andersen was born and raised.

[@Thrym865]

No, Odens Vi.

[@arwenwestrop5404]

This is brilliant - it's such fun to find out about these languages and how difficult it is to actually understand the written word for all kinds of different reasons. Just one question, Jackson: could you please put links to the videos you mention in the description? I can't remember them all correctly, they are not always long enough on the screen etc. Thank you so much!

[@user-wi9hv2pb2q]

Anyone else thinking of the humor of Gary Larsen in the Farside where the guy paints the words "pants" "dog" "shirt" etc.? Maybe it's his ancestors.

[@anotherelvis]

Is it possible that some the metal with the remainder of the H has fallen off the knife. There seems to be a dent to the left of the H.

[@saxebbel1986]

Please post updates if someone addresses the erilaz thing ! :)

[@faithlesshound5621]

To resolve the questions, "Is it a personal name?" or "Is it the name of the object?" we should find out how common it was to label objects in that way, both in general finds and in urn burials at a later date. Also, I know that it was sometimes common to include a weapon alongside an inhumation. Was it also common to do so when it was ashes rather than a whole body that was buried? Labelling the knife "little sword" may be a retrospective justification for putting it there., if it was not a joke made when it was in use. If the knife was inscribed with the deceased owner's name, placing the identifier UNDER the urn left it visible only to the spirits of the earth. The point was made that in the 1st century CE modern-day Denmark was inhabited by West Germanic speakers. Those would be the ancestors of the Jutes and Angles who occupied England a few centuries later. Perhaps comparison should be made with burial practices in Kent, Hampshire and Anglia.

[@cosmopolit_]

The Cimbri and Teutons inhabited the peninsular at that time, whereas the Heruli settled the island Fyn, the place where the knife was found around the time of 150 CE, there might be a chance in an already being mixed up/assimilated Northern Germanic style, since the Heruli originated from Scandinavia. You can be sure, that Northern-and Western Germanic mixed in that region. The Danes migrated later on from southern Sweden to nowadays Denmark. There has always been a southern migration tendency, coming from Scandinavia

[@cfengelhardt]

Interesting about the -ila diminutive. -la is still used as diminutive in some souther German dialects e.g. in Franconia.

[@MikesBasementx]

Funny world, that an old norse expert from Colorado is the one to tell me about a find, roughly 80 miles from where I live (Copenhagen). I don't know if these namings have been made with humor in mind, that the people living here from that time found it funny (like many Danes also do now) to label something that is obvious. Comb or Little Sword. I am completely guessing here, but could it have been a gift to a child that was then put in the grave with the person or that it was a gift from childhood. If I look at my own experience with the sense of humor we have in contemporary Denmark, it could be very likely to give a child a "Little Sword" to make it more "cool" (in lack of a better word). I really don't know. I am not a historian or anything of the sorts.

[@waltersteerunde4444]

If "knivr" has no Germanic cognates outside Sccandinavia, it could be borrowed by Finn-Ugric tribes, who settled in Scandinavia-penninsula a little bit earlier than the Norse.

[@tolvana9902]

HARJA is comb in Finnish!

[@bothnianwaves7483]

No, it is "brush".

[@tolvana9902]

@@bothnianwaves7483 Anyway, a device for brushing hair.

[@jmolofsson]

Etymology is, unfortunately, no exact science. But it seems to be the established wisdom that "harja" in Finnish, Estonian, etc… is borrowed from Proto-Baltic with cognates in several languages, including Russian "šerstʹ" for wool and, of course, hair in Germanic.

[@tolvana9902]

@@jmolofsson Ok, a loanword probably from 1500 BC. I'm just wondering which is more believable, the name of "fury berserk" or just simply: What is it?

[@JanoTuotanto]

@@tolvana9902 or couple millennia before runes. A bold assumption of course , given that there is no actual historical evidence of indo-european languages existing before classical iron-age. Even Hittite is only 3500 years old

[@rlou4386]

This might be the first instance I've seen of an opening question mark outside of a Spanish-speaking context. XD

[@fjallaxd7355]

Great video, as always.

[@AllotmentFox]

When you say it doesn’t look like a weapon to you it certainly does to me. If I am not mistaken yours locks which makes it formidable in my view. Occam’s razor might well apply to this situation and thank you for transliterating the comb runes rather than translating: comb-er is a natural explanation that gave me a surprising jolt of recognition. With Old English we see -el as a diminutive on things like river names.

[@sfritz6984]

I wonder if the presence of runes on such a person item implies that the owner was literate.

[@historicalheathen5058]

I think it's silly this is all over Facebook. Did we all forget about the Vimose Set? Or the meldorf Fibula? I get it - it looks more proto-italic but yes.

[@gustafduell4948]

From the image i have seen, it would be huilat or from right to left taliuh. The "R" i do not understand how they see instead of an u. And rightmost, there seems to be remains of a ^ that is not included.

[@francesconicoletti2547]

Isn’t there a mark about the same size as the two strokes at the beginning of the word at the end of the word ? The jpg I found was terrible but there seemed to be the hint of another letter. The 3cm blade seems to be a remnant of a larger piece. The point is clearly missing and given there is no hint of tang or rivet holes the body of the blade could have been longer. If so whatever writing has survived could have been part of a larger text.

[@markblue9476]

I like to think the owner had a sense of humor....

[@Iwoodlikethat]

Hey DJC, I got one of your books in audible as included with the subscription. Do you still get paid for something I get for free?

[@kimfleury]

In 1,900 years from now, when plastic bits of out electronic devices are discovered scattered like neo-pagan ashes, will they even be able to decipher the brand name?

[@johnbell7235]

So something like a skinning knife then? Something like what you describe is what I use to do it.

[@MichaelWalker-de8nf]

Gotta love Spyderco ❤️ 🤟

[@Beechhill]

Been waiting for your take on this astonishing find! Thank you! (Slightly disappointed in your pronunciation of "Fyn" and "Odense")

[@rabidbadger3855]

Watch out, we've got a "well actually" here!

[@Beechhill]

@@rabidbadger3855 Sorry, no.

[@fluffypink8730]

Calling Jutland “mainland Denmark” I find to be even worse😂

[@StarsBarsAndCheese]

ssrila?

[@b43xoit]

The volume is low.

[@joshuaharper372]

It would be really delightful if this little sword (knife) belonged to a guy called Little-sword (Herila).

[@asburycollins9182]

Vimose means holy bog i believe. So likely a votive offering id guess

[@hildegerdhaugen7864]

ᚺᛁᚱᛁᛚᚨ is carved in the knife. Hagalaz, Isa, Raidho, Isa, Laguz, Ansuz. Hail Ke Ri Ke Vann Woden, Perhaps the knife was consecrated to Odin near by water? Or Hirila is a name? Both things can be true. My ancestors was masters of ambiguity.

[@lonewolf597]

I wish spyderco would make a seax blade knife.

[@alysmarcus7747]

and what if that "R" that is there - but in the museum leaflet with the added dots -- - the R looks more like Uruz - just throw that maybe in the pot.

[@kylehorner8782]

Sooo its a Derringer not a Colt 45!

[@marjae2767]

If knife is exclusively North Germanic, then does Cniva come from another root? And calling a kinfe a "little sword" makes at least as much sense as counting a spatula one.

[@Udgaard01]

Det ville være typisk Dansk humor at kalde en kniv for lille sværd

[@pogger4649]

Was looking forward to this! Thank you doc.

[@corpi8784]

I thought Runic was developed with the inspkration from Latin or Greek scripts ...100 AD in Denmark is pretty early Interesting

[@acvoltti3324]

I think, it looks like U-rune, not R-rune. So, the word can be HUILA.

[@marcodellasanta9089]

❤

[@beepboop204]

[@command7772]

I was hopin the word was: (G)ríla

[@DAYBROK3]

professor jackson please get a better mic. i have to put on earphones to hear you.

[@Blockhaj]

could it simply be a rune we have yet to find?

[@beakerboy4039]

I'm so glad I found u on here I'm a proud norse pagan and I absolutely LOVE ur content it has helped me on my path thank u so much