Isolated People in Sweden Used Runes Up Until 1900, Still Speak Old Norse

[NewsFeed]

You Tube

You Tube

Isolated People in Sweden Used Runes Up Until 1900, Still Speak Old Norse

From: Videnskab.dk

Usually we associate runic alphabet with the Vikings. But in a remote, isolated part of Sweden they used runes until just 100 years ago. People in the region also speak their own language: "Älvdalsk." (Elfdalian in English)

Most people associate runes with Viking times, the Jelling stones or Gorm the Old.

But in Älvdalen in mid-western Sweden locals continued to use runes for centuries after the written language was dropped in the rest of Scandinavia.

In the shelter of the large Swedish forests the runes were able to continue right up until the early 1900s, just as the residents also retained its own unique language - Älvdalsk - which is considered to be a real treasure for Scandinavian linguists.

"Älvdalen is really something special. Firstly, because they speak a unique Old Norse language, but also because they used runes until around 100 years ago. It is simply fascinating, "says Michael Lerche Nielsen, Associate Professor at the Department of Scandinavian Research at Copenhagen University.

Thursday, he holds presentations on the special runes from Älvdalen at a conference on Elfdalian University of Copenhagen. (May 7th. 2015)

Exceptional that runes were used so late

In Denmark and other Nordic countries the runes were the dominant written language until Christianity began its aggressive foray into Scandinavia 800-900 century. Christianity brought the Latin alphabet, which is the alphabet we still learn in school, the same you are reading right now.

During the 1400s the Latin alphabet had almost completely eradicated the use of runes - but not in Älvdalen. Here, the Swedish linguist Henrik Rosenkvist has recently seen a letter from 1906, partially written with runes.

"The runes we see in Älvdalen, is probably the last use of runes that we know of. Most other use of runes died out during the Middle Ages, so it is exceptional for the runes to have been used this late," says Associate Professor Henrik Rosenqvist, who speaks and does research on the unique language spoken in Älvdalen.

The Danish rune researcher Michael Lerche Nielsen agrees that the people of Älvdalen was the last "ordinary people" - as opposed to non scientists, antiquity enthusiasts and rune mages - who made use of runes.

"The use of Runes in Scandinavia subsided during the 1400s. There are few areas in Gotland and Iceland, where rune tradition continued until the 1600s. But in Älvdalen it was used right up until the early 1900s," says Michael Lerche Nielsen.

Wrote rune messages on wooden sticks

According to Michael Lerche Nielsen, the runes in Älvdalen are often found in houses, on furniture and similar places.

In addition, the runes also scratched into the so-called budkævler - wooden sticks, which were circulated with messages between the farms in the area.

"The people who looked after their cattle out by the mountains, could also be found to write messages to each ot

----- snip -----


read full article at source: http://redicecreations.com/article.php?id=33381

[cillian]

That's nice. But I think the pertinent question here is, did they pee sitting down or not?