B.L. Freeborn © October 2024

If you like old runic riddles this one is endless….. The story it tells is beyond expectation.

“Aft Vamoð stãnda runaʀ þaʀ…”(Holmberg) begins the Rök Rune Stone of Ödeshög, Sweden. It consists of approximately 770 runes and is decorated with obvious ciphers. From the time of its discovery in the 1600’s in the wall of an adjoining building at the Röks kyrka (church) built in the 12th century and complete unveiling in 1862, each new investigator has written their views, and thereby, has pushed our understanding of its intent and meaning further along.

The attached (pdf) is a thorough study of the ciphers on the stone. Below is one of the more clever ciphers for the reader’s enjoyment. Spoiler alert – the solution follows so take care when scrolling down.

Excerpt from the study:
§308
The single line shown in the image here, that runs up the long side on the right, is an amazing cipher. It has thirty-six runes which are presumably straightforward. There are no spaces between the symbols or word breaks. It was translated by Holmberg  et al. ,pg.22-23) to read:

As given: kuta sinum skialti ub fatlaþʀ skati marika

As transliterated: guta sinum, skialdi umb fatlaðʀ, skati mæringa.

As translated: “…his shield strapped, foremost of the famous.”

Let us look at this again.

As given: KUTASINUMSKIALTIUBFATLAÞʀSKATIMARIKA

And spaced out as: KUT AS I NUM SKIALTIUBFATLAÞʀSKATIMARIKA

“Cut as I num”…ber? Which leaves one to question if this is actually in English and if so, what are the numbers here?

SOLUTION FOLLOWS IMAGES……

 

SOLUTION FOLLOWS ……

The total sum checks so the transcription seems accurate but there is a notable lack of 56’s or other familiar numbers within the text. However, it does begin with two groups of 6 runes that sum to 50. Obviously, 6 + 50 = 56. After trying several shift ciphers to no avail the riddler’s hint was taken and the following was formed:

Now the reader may find in this square:
CUT AS I ASK, CUT, ASK four times and
SKA, an anagram of ask.

Along the diagonal find:
CUT L TA ⇒ CUT AT L

There is no question this is in English. Taking the script again and trying to do as asked find:

K U T A S I N U M S K I A L
T I U B F A T L
A Þ ʀ S K A T I M A R I K A

Not much better, but certain words do stand out such as the double AT and to their right
is LI as in ‘lie’. Immediately above is INU or ‘in now, I now or in U.’ The ‘U’ we shall interpret as ‘cup.’ Then vertically we can also read U LI ⇒ ‘cup lie.’

There is a whole slew of other words in English present such as: TI (tie); UB (web); FAT (fate); FATL (fatal); SIN (sin); SKAT (sheat); NUM (niman-grasp); SKIAL (shell), MA (more); RIK (rick – stack) and KATI in reverse is  ‘I take’.

Maybe one has to really ‘cut as I ask’ and ‘take’; or remove and take away as directed which leaves:
K U T A S I N U M S K I A L
T I U B F A T L
A Þ ʀ S K A T I M A R I K A ➟➟ I M A R I K A ??

In Younger Futhark I’s are also E’s. This is then an anagram of AMERIKA or America.

The phrase then reads: ‘I lie now in …America’ or ‘In cup at America.’

• References:

Holmberg, Per; Gräslund, Bo; Sundqvist, Olof; Williams, Henrik (2020). “The Rök Runestone and the End of the World” (PDF). Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies. 9–10: 7–38. doi:10.33063/diva-401040.

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