[ANSTHRLD] Using Lena Peterson's Nordiskt Runnamnslexikon for Old Norse names and finding dates

[Christie Ward]

I have answered this question twice this morning for different folks, so I thought I'd share it more widely.

Lena Peterson's Nordiskt runnamnslexikon (http://www.sofi.se/servlet/GetDoc?meta_id=1472) is a nice source of names from runic inscriptions. If you go to the URL, on the 
left you will see a button that appears to say, "Lexikon A-Q". Click 
that to get the names in an alphabetical list.  Some helpful abbreviations: "fsv" Old Swedish; "fda" Old Danish; "fvn" Old West Norse. 
The headword for each name is the normalized Old East Norse form. 

So, let's pick up a couple of names from Peterson:



Sefa kvn.

Feminin motsvarighet till → Sefi/Siafi.

Nom. sifa Sö14$

Gen. sifuR Sö96

Litt.: VgR s. 261.



Sefi/Siafi mn.

Fsv. Sæve

Av best. formen av fsv. adj. siæver, sæver ’lugn, stillsam, saktmodig,

sävlig’. (Namnformerna Sefi och Siafi har inte tidigare förts samman i litt.)

Nom. s(i)afi U435

Gen. sifa Vg193

Ack. s(i)fa Vg136



In English, that works out to be something like:



Sefa (feminine name).

Feminine equivalent to → Sefi / Siafi. 

Nominative: sifa Sö14$ 

Genitive: sifuR Sö96. 

Refs: VgR p. 261.



Sefi / Siafi (masculine name)

O.Swed. Sæve.

From the O.Swed. adj. siæver, sæver "calm, self-possessed, tranquil, gentle,

leisurely". (The name forms Sefi and Siafi have not previously been connected in the literature.)

Nominative: s(in)afi U435.

Genitive: sifa Vg193.

Accusative: s(in)fa Vg136


While one can usually safely assume most of these fall into the Viking Age, it's possible to get a better date. For each of the runic 
inscriptions for a name, Peterson provides the case (nominative, 
genitive, dative, accusative), a transliteration of the runic spelling, 
and a strange alphanumeric code called a signum.



Next, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rundata -- The download info 
for the small but useful Rundata database can be found on the wiki page,
 as well as helpful usage notes.  Download and install Rundata, then we 
want to look up those signa as follows: 



Sö 14

Sö 96

U 435

Vg 193

Vg 136



Rundata wants a space between the letters (representing the location of 
the inscription) and the numeric code.  I have one-picture illustrated 
use guide for Rundata at 
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/055/3/f/Rundata_Explanation_by_Sigrdrifa1.jpg



(1) Click on the button that has a cross inside a snake.



(2) In the search box, type or paste in the signum (and umlauts DO matter), then click the SEARCH button.



(3) Now click the button that has an "i" in a blue box.



(4) Look for two pieces of data: "Period/Datering" and "Stilgruppering".
 These contain some info as to the date, and a full description of how 
to interpret the data can be found at 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rundata#Dating_of_runic_inscriptions_in_Rundata



So, for our list of signa above, we end up with:



Sö 14 - ca. 1010-1050 AD


Sö 96 - ca. 1010-1050 AD


U 435 - ca. 1020-1050 AD


Vg 193 - Viking Age


Vg 136 - ca. 1010-1040 AD



That tells us these names are all pretty much in the first half of the 11th century.



::GUNNVOR::