„Keine Denkmäler werden größer sein …“ : Was ist ein Runendenkmal?

The Seventh International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Oslo, 9–14 August 2010, Klaus Düwel (Author)

URI http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-213049, URN urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-213049

publication

2013

Is part of

Futhark · ISSN 1892-0950

4, 31-60

Component part, Online resource

Available online:

http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-213049 http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:682690/FULLTEXT01

Subject

Humanities and the Arts, Languages and Literature, Specific Languages, Humaniora och konst, Språk och litteratur, Språkstudier, Nordiska språk, Scandinavian Languages, Runic memorials, runestones, object markers, monument terminology, runic poetry

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Summary

‘What is a runic monument?’ is the main question discussed in this contribution. Reflections are offered on the relationship between the German word Denkmal and Latin monumentum . An overview is then provided of the terms used in the inscriptions themselves to denote a runic monument, be it inscribed with the older or younger futhark. References in the runic texts to the aesthetic appearance of Viking Age memorials are examined, and the various characteristics mentioned are categorized under the following headings: beauty and stateliness, magnitude and monumentality, publicity and renown, insurpassability and uniqueness, colour and multicolouredness, poeticism and alliteration (verse design). Additional features are identified as characterizing such memorials, in particular impressive outer or physical appearance including artistic decoration. Runic monuments are comparable to Horace’s monumentum aere perennius ‘a monument more lasting than bronze’.