Mæshowe in the Orkneyjar!

I remember my trip to Mæshowe...
The sight I was to behold... so many runic inscriptions. Some enlightening... and some hilarious!
The rune carvings in Mæshowe really warm the heart as you learn how 1000 years makes no difference... human beings have always been the same... nothing ever changes. Haha...

Here are a few...

Mæshowe Runes
1)

Transliteration: þat ir uikin=kr ... –a= =kom utir hir til
Transcription: Þat er víkingr ... [þ]á kom undir hér til.
Translation: That is a Viking… then came here underneath.

2)

?o=lfr ko=lbæins so=nr ræest= =ru=nar þesa=r haut
Eyjúlfr Kolbeins sonr reist rúnar þessar hátt.
Eyjulfr Kolbeinn's son carved these runes high.

3)

þorer fomir
Þórir fómir

4)

þat * man * sat * er (*) ek * sæhe * at fe * uar * ført * a brot * þrim * notom * uar fe * brôt * ført * hæltr * æn þæir br(e) hôh þ(e)na

Þat mun satt, er ek segi, at fé var fœrt á brott. Þrim nóttum var fé brott fœrt, heldr en þeir bryti haug þenna.

That which I say will be true, that wealth was brought away. Wealth was brought away three nights before they broke this mound.

5)

uemuntr ræist
Vémundr reist.
Vémundr carved.

7)

otar fila ræist runar þisar
Óttarr "fila" reist rúnar þessar.
Óttarr "fila" carved these runes.

9)

ingibiorh * hin fahra * æhkia
môrhk * kona * hæfer * faret * lu(t) in her mihgil oflate
ærlikr

Ingibjôrg, hin fagra ekkja. Môrg kona hefir farit lút inn hér. Mikill ofláti. Erlingr.
Ingibjôrg, the fair widow. Many a wife has travelled stooping in here. A great show-off. Erlingr.

10)

þorny sarþ
hælhe ræist

Þorný sarð. Helgi reist.
Þorny fucked. Helgi carved. (Sorry... it's what it says)

18)

arnfiþr matr ræist= =runar þæsar mæþ * þæiri øhse * er ate * kôukr * trænils| |sonr fyrir * sunan lant
Arnfinnr Matr reist rúnar þessar með þeiri øxi, er átti Gaukr Trandils sonr fyrir sunnan land.
Arnfinnr Food carved these runes with the axe, belonging to Gaukr Trandill’s son in the south of the country. (Iceland)

20)

þisar runar
rist sa maþr * er * runstr er * fyrir
uæstan haf

Þessar rúnar.
reist sá maðr, er rúnstr er fyrir
vestan haf.

These runes.
Carved by the man, who is most rune-skilled
In the western ocean.



My favourite rune carving... which I unfortunately can't find pictures for is the "Ingigerþ... the most beautiful woman in the world"... it sounds so sweet... but then you see the crude drawing of a dog panting and you realise it wasn't so innocent. Haha!

They are indeed the younger futhark... some of these carvings are supposedly from the 12th century.

I have once tried to learn the younger futhark, but found there to not be enough characters for my need. I imagine though, that it is used much like here where i and e are the same rune etc.

I must say though, I can translate a lot of the transilerations just ffrom knowing Faroese. Which language was it that used the Elder Futhark? Proto-norse?

Well, as these runes are from the 11th century, there has been a slight evolution. Thus, it's not quite the traditional younger futhark. So there are different runes for E and I. (basically E is just like I but has a dot or dash in the center) If you look at the third picture, you should see a very slight carved out chunk in the middle of what appears to be an Ís rune.

And yes, Proto-Norse was the language used with the Elder Futhark. But Proto-Germanic was used with Elder Futhark in the early days.

Proto-Norse would have been a wonderful language to reconstruct... absolutely incredible but unfortunately there just isn't anywhere near enough source material.

Another question: Do you have any tutorials on reading these? I don't have much trouble once the runic writing is reconstructed into Romanised characters, but reading them is more trouble. I think the best place to start would be with this one:

http://www.arild-hauge.com/raa-se/Br-BARNES-5-Maeshowe-gravkammer-V.jpg

(purely because it's one of the clearest carvings)

I think it's very difficult to study the runes if you don't know where to look or what to read... the main problem is, so much material written on the runes is ignorant drivel. Especially any book that mentions "Celtic runes" or "The Rune of Destiny" these are the main signs of a work of absolute skít.
I don't think I can safely recommend any source to you that will be 100% factually accurate, because I haven't had good experiences with any of these sources. But I can teach you, because it's fairly simple.

I can read Elder, as I probably said before, but younger is more difficult to me, purely because I haven't learnt it. However, I can't quite place some of the ones I do know in the example I quoted above.