Bryggen inscription 257

{{coord|60.398|N|5.32|E|display=title|type:landmark}}
{{Infobox artifact
| name = Bergen rune charm
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = Kat nr 064 Pinne av trä, från Norge – KMB – 16000300015508.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| image_caption = Side B of the stick.
| material =
| size =
| height = <!– {{convert|}} –>
| width = <!– {{convert|}} –>
| weight = <!– {{convert|}} –>
| long = <!– {{convert|}} –>
| writing = [[Younger Futhark]]
| symbols =
| created = ca. 1335
| discovered = <!– Deprecated; use the following, separate, parameters –>
| discovered_place = Søndre Gullskoen, [[Bryggen inscriptions|Bryggen]], [[Bergen]]
| discovered_coords =
| discovered_date = 20th century
| discovered_by =
| rune_id = [http://kulturarvsdata.se/uu/srdb/c0162b72-0be1-4841-be92-f2a618300db9 N B257]
| rune_style =
| rune_master =
| rune_text_native = [[Old Norse language|Old Norse]]: See article.
| rune_text_english = See article.
| location =
| classification =
| culture = [[Norsemen|Norse]]
| id =
| map =
| website =
}}

The ”’Bergen rune charm”’ is a [[rune|runic]] inscription on a piece of wood found among the [[Bryggen inscriptions|medieval rune-staves of Bergen]]. It is noted for its similarities to the [[Poetic Edda|Eddaic poem]] ”[[Skírnismál]]” (particularly stanza 36);<ref>[[Klaus von See]], Beatrice la Farge, Eve Picard, Ilona Priebe and Katja Schulz, ”Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda” (Heidelberg: Winter, 1997–), II 136-37.</ref> as a rare example of a poetic rune-stave inscription; and of runes being used in [[love magic]].

The inscription has number ”’257”’ in the [[Bryggen inscriptions]] numbering and ”’N B257”’ ”(Norway Bryggen no. 257)” in the [[Rundata]] database, and ”’P 6”’ in McKinnell, Simek and Düwel’s collection.<ref>John McKinnell, Rudolf Simek and Klaus Duwel, Runes, Magic and Religion: A Sourcebook, Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia, 10 (Vienna: Fassbaender, 2004), pp. 131-32 [P 6].</ref>

It is thought to date from the fourteenth century.<ref>1380×90 according to John McKinnell, Rudolf Simek and Klaus Duwel, Runes, Magic and Religion: A Sourcebook, Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia, 10 (Vienna: Fassbaender, 2004), p. 131; but an earlier fourteenth-century date was proposed by the chief excavator: Lorenzo Lozzi Gallo, ‘On the Interpretation of ”’ialuns”’ in the Norwegian Runic Text B257′, ”Arkiv för nordisk filologi”, 116 (2001), 135-51 (p. 135), http://journals.lub.lu.se/index.php/anf/article/view/11627.</ref>

==Description==
The stave is four-sided, with text on each side, but one end is missing, leaving the text of each side incomplete. It is dated to ca. 1335, making it roughly contemporary to the [[Ribe healing-stick]] (ca. 1300).

==Inscription==

===Scandinavian Runic-text Database===
The [[Rundata|Scandinavian Runic-text Database]] (Rundata) gives the following transliteration of the runes:<ref name=database>{{citation
| url = http://kulturarvsdata.se/uu/srdb/c0162b72-0be1-4841-be92-f2a618300db9
| accessdate = December 5, 2021
| title = Runic inscription N B257
| work = [[Rundata|Scandinavian Runic-text Database]]
| year = 2020
| publisher = Department of Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala University}}</ref>

====Runic transliteration====
: §A ”’rist e^k ᛬ bot᛬runa^r ᛬ rist ᛬ e^k biabh᛬runa^r ᛬ eæin᛬fa^l uiþ ᛬ a^luom ᛬ tuiua^lt uiþ ᛬ t^rolom ᛬ þreua^lt ᛬ uiþ ᛬ þ(u)–”’
: §B ”’uiþ e^nne ᛬ skøþo ᛬ skah ᛬ ua^lkyrriu ᛬ sua᛬at ᛬ eæi mehi ᛬ þo᛬at æ uili ᛬ læuis ᛬ kona ᛬ liui ᛬ þinu g- -”’
: §C ”’e^k sende^r ᛬ þer ᛬ ek se a þe^r ᛬ ylhia^r ᛬ e^rhi o^k oþola ᛬ a þe^r ᛬ rini ᛬ uþole ᛬ a^uk ᛬ i(a)luns ᛬ moþ ᛬ sittu ᛬ ald^ri ᛬ sop þu ᛬ ald^r(i) -”’
: §D ”’a^nt ᛬ mer ᛬ sem ᛬ sialpre ᛬ þer ᛬ beirist ᛬ rubus ᛬ rabus ᛬ eþ ᛬ arantabus ᛬ laus ᛬ abus ᛬ rosa ᛬ ga^ua –”’

====Old West Norse normalization====
: §A ”Ríst ek bótrúnar, ríst ek bjargrúnar, einfalt við alfum, tvífalt við trollum, þrífalt við þurs[um],”
: §B ”við inni skoðu skag(?) valkyrju, svát ei megi, þótt æ vili, lævís kona, lífi þínu g[randa], …”
: §C ”ek sendi þér, ek sé á þér, ylgjar ergi ok úþola. Á þér hríni úþoli ok ioluns(?) móð. Sittu aldri, sof þú aldri …”
: §D ”ant mér sem sjalfri þér. Beirist(?) rubus rabus et arantabus laus abus rosa gaua …”

====English translation====
: I cut runes of help; I cut runes of protection; once against the elves, twice against the trolls, thrice against the ogres …
: against the harmful ‘skag’-valkyrie, so that she never shall, though she ever would-evil woman!-(injure) your life …
: I send to you, I look at you (= cast on you with the evil eye): wolfish evil and hatefulness. May unbearable distress and ‘ioluns’ misery take effect on you. Never shall you sit, never shall you sleep, …
: (that you) love me as yourself. [Latinate magical words] and [magical words] …

===Interpretation of McKinnell, Simek, Düwel and Hall===
As normalised and edited by McKinnell, Simek and Düwel, and ‘somewhat tentatively’ translated by Hall, the charm reads:<ref>John McKinnell, Rudolf Simek and Klaus Duwel, Runes, Magic and Religion: A Sourcebook, Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia, 10 (Vienna: Fassbaender, 2004), pp. 131-32 [P 6]; [[Alaric Hall]], Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity, Anglo-Saxon Studies, 8 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2007), p. 134.</ref>
{{Verse translation|
”’Edited text”’

Side A:
{{lang|non|Ríst ek bótrúnar,
ríst ek bjargrúnar,
einfalt við álfum,
tvífalt við tröllum,
þrífalt við þursum}}
…

Side B:
{{lang|non|við inni skœðu
skag-valkyrju,
svá at ei megi
þó at æ vili
lævís kona
lífi þínu}}
…

Side C:
{{lang|non|Ek sendi þér,
ek sé á þér
ylgjar ergi ok óþola.
Á þér renni óþoli
ok ‘ioluns’ móð.
Sittu aldri,
sof þu aldri}}
…

Side D:
{{lang|non|ant mér sem sjalfri þér.}}
|
”’Possible translation”’

I carve remedy-runes,
I carve protection runes,
once over by ”[[elf|álfar]]”,
twice over by ”trõll” (‘?magic-workers, trolls’)
thrice over by ”þursar” (‘?magic-workers, giants’)
…

by the harmful
‘?skag’-”[[valkyrie|valkyrja]]”,
so that you may have no power of action
though you always want,
?crafty woman,
in your life
…

I send to you,
I chant on you
a she-wolf’s lust and restlessness.
May restlessness come over you
and a ”[[jötunn|jǫtunn’s]]” fury (reading ”iotuns”).
Never sit,
never sleep.
…

love me as you love yourself.}}

In the view of McKinnell, Simek and Düwel,

: it is by no means certain that the inscriptions on all four sides of this stick belong to the same charm. A and B look like part of a protective charm against demons, while C and D seem to be love-magic of the most forbidden kind. However, it remains possible that they represent two contrary aspects of the same spell &ndash; a blessing if the woman gives her love to the carver combined with a curse if she refuses it.

They point out that the addressee of side D is a woman, on account of the feminine form ”sjalfri”.<ref>John McKinnell, Rudolf Simek and Klaus Duwel, Runes, Magic and Religion: A Sourcebook, Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia, 10 (Vienna: Fassbaender, 2004), p. 132.</ref>

==Images==
There is a photograph of a detail of the stave in Aslak Liestøl, ‘Runer frå Bryggen’, ”Viking: Tidsskrift for norrøn arkeologi”, 27 (1964), 5–53, reproduced in Stephen A. Mitchell, ‘Anaphrodisiac Charms in the Nordic Middle Ages: Impotence, Infertility and Magic’, ”Norveg”, 41 (1998), 19-42 (p.&nbsp;29).

==References==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Runic inscriptions]]
[[Category:Bryggen inscriptions]]
[[Category:14th century inscriptions]]
[[Category:Historical runic magic]]
[[Category:Sources of Norse mythology]]
[[Category:Eddic poetry]]