Hines, John  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0440-6214
2019.
Two personal names in recently found Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions: Sedgeford (Norfolk) and Elsted (West Sussex).
Anglia
137
(2)
, pp. 278-302.
10.1515/ang-2019-0025
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Abstract
In 2017 two objects carrying runic inscriptions that are identifiable as personal names were found. Both date to the ninth century; both are dithematic (compound) names. The object, identified as a spoon or fork handle from Sedgeford in Norfolk, bears a familiar male name, Biarnferð. This contains a runic graph hitherto unseen, which may, despite the provenance of the find, be interpreted as a representation of the diphthong ia that developed in the Kentish dialect by the middle of the ninth century. There is in fact a historically known individual of this name who witnessed a series of Canterbury charters in the mid-ninth century. The other object, a strap-end from Elsted in West Sussex, carries what can be identified from its final element, flǣd, as a female name, although the whole name cannot be read. What is legible cannot be identified with any previously recorded personal name. Evaluation of these finds emphasizes how Anglo-Saxon runic writing practice continued to adapt to changes in the language and the regularization of roman-script literacy in the ninth century. Finally, the role of literacy within a nexus of cultural relationship involving individuals and artefacts is also highlighted.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > History, Archaeology and Religion |
| Subjects: | C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology P Language and Literature > PD Germanic languages P Language and Literature > PE English |
| Publisher: | De Gruyter |
| ISSN: | 0340-5222 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 2 April 2019 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 1 April 2019 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Nov 2024 09:15 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/120614 |
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