Bergen rune-charm


The Bergen rune-charm is a runic inscription on a piece of wood found among the medieval rune-staves of Bergen. It is noted for its similarities to the Eddaic poem Skírnismál ; as a rare example of a poetic rune-stave inscription; and of runes being used in love magic.
The inscription is number B 257 in the Bryggen inscriptions numbering and in the corresponding Rundata project, and P 6 in McKinnell, Simek and Düwel's collection.
It is thought to date from the fourteenth century.

Text

The stave is four-sided, with text on each side, but one end is missing, leaving the text of each side incomplete. As normalised and edited by McKinnell, Simek and Düwel, and 'somewhat tentatively' translated by Hall, the charm reads:
In the view of McKinnell, Simek and Düwel,
They point out that the addressee of side D is a woman, on account of the feminine form sjalfri.

Images

There is a photograph of a detail of the stave in Aslak Liestøl, ‘Runer frå Bryggen’, Viking: Tidsskrift for norrøn arkeologi, 27, 5–53, reproduced in Stephen A. Mitchell, ‘Anaphrodisiac Charms in the Nordic Middle Ages: Impotence, Infertility and Magic’, Norveg, 41, 19-42.