Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
366
Craigie: Anmälan.
marks on fergenberig are not quite clear; while stating that it
means Berg eines Waldgebirges ’hill belonging to a woodland’, he
seems to regard Hofmann’s Berghügel, Wadstein’s ’clifF-bank’, and
Napier’s ¾teep shore’, as conveying exactly the same idea.
The left side is very briefly treated by Viétor, who (like
Na-pier) begins the inscription at Oþlœ unneg, but in a foot-note
ap-proves of starting at Bomwdlus, as Wadstein has done. Onlv
Wadstein discnsses the scene on this side, bat his explanation of
the spear-bearing figures is not convincing: ’Just as the carver
has put in the wolf twice, so he has represented Romulus and
Remus as youths twice too, having probably nothing eise to hand
to fill his space with’. As the fignres seem to be looking intently
at the central part of the scene, it is mnch more likely that they
are the finders of the twins (hunters in place of the nsnal
’herds-man’). The second wolf may rather be the male than a duplicate
(or is it a wolf-honnd?).
Viétor is also very brief in his remarks on the back of the
casket, appending however a note by Dr Burg, who proposes to
read giuþeas u(t). This would make fugiant correct, but on the
other hand it is awkward to suppose that the Latin inscription is
thus linked on to the Bnglish one, instead of making a fresh start
at Hic. Something is no doubt wanting, but whether giupea
su-or giupeas u- is to be read seems impossible to say.
The right, or Florence, side of the casket has naturally
ex-cited most attention in these new studies, and is also that on
which opinions are as yet most widely divided. All the central
portion of the inscription must at present be regarded as
uncer-tain, none of the solutions yet proposed being sufficiently
ob-vious to be quite convincing. They may be most easily compared
with each other in Viétor, p. 7. It may be strongly suspected
that the bottom line contains a fresh sentence beginning with
Her (compare the two sentences on the back), but only Viétor
takes this view, both Napier and Wadstein accepting hiri as ¾er*
(possessive or dative). Where all is so uncertain, it is scarcely
worth while to criticize in detail, though it would be much easier
to find objections to all the readings already proposed than to
suggest a new one. As even the top-line is not free from
diffi-culties, the net result from the lettering on this side is not very
great. All we know with certainty is that ’Here’ some one (? a
horse) ’sits on a sorrow-hilP, and ’suffers’ something, and that the
closing words are ’sorrow and soul-anguish\ This result is
cer-tainly poor compared with the other sides of the casket, and there
is perhaps reason to believe that the artist has made a mess of it
through not being quite familiär with the new vowel-runes. The
obscurity of the wording naturally makes the explanation of the
central figures difficalt, but there is at least no clear proof that
they have anything to do with the Sigurd story. Even the plain
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
