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The Ramsund Rock (Sö 101)

Drawing of the Ramsund Rock Carving

Key: 1) Sigurd roasting Fanir’s heart 2) The birds warn of Regin’s treachery 3) Regin lies dead beside his own head 4) Sigurd’s horse Grani is laden with the dragon’s treasure 5) Sigurd kills Fafnir 6) Ótr from the beginning of the Völsunga Saga

The Ramsund Rock is technical not a runestone as it is carved into an exposed rock face, rather than a free standing stone. It is thought to have been carved c. 1030.

The carving shows six scenes from the Sigurd legend: 1) Sigurd roasting Fanir’s heart 2) The birds warn of Regin’s treachery 3) Regin lies dead beside his own head 4) Sigurd’s horse Grani is laden with the dragon’s treasure 5) Sigurd kills Fafnir 6) Ótr from the beginning of the Völsunga Saga.

The runes on the rock are ambiguous, but one generally accepted version runs as follows:

Latin alphabet transliteration :

siriþr : kiarþi : bur : þosi : muþiʀ : alriks : tutiʀ : urms : fur * salu : hulmkirs : faþur : sukruþar buata * sis *

Old Norse transcription:

Sigriðr gærði bro þasi, moðiʀ Alriks, dottiʀ Orms, for salu Holmgæiʀs, faður Sigrøðaʀ, boanda sins.

English translation:

Sigríðr, Alríkr’s mother, Ormr’s daughter, made this bridge for the soul of Holmgeirr, father of Sigrøðr, her husbandman.

The Ramsund Rock
image: wikimedia
(click on the image to enlarge)