Runestone for Ormr Bogsneigr

carved by Víðarr leðrháls

On the 29th day of July, AS 41, 2006 Gregorian, Ormr Bogsneigr was made a Companion of the Gentle Dragon. Due to Ormr's Norse Persona, he received a beautiful rune-stone for his Award of Arms a couple of years prior.

Being the Baronial Scribe for Dragonsspine, in the Kingdom of the Outlands, I get the assignments list from the Baron and Baroness. That gave me first crack and I opted to do a Norse rune-stone for a dear friend, one whom has deserved the Gentle Dragon for many years. Ormr is a nice guy, a wonderful example of the live and let live approach to life.

That said, Below is my record of the phases and false-starts that I went through to get this written, translated, transformed to runes, and carved within a month and a half. I hope that this page is educational if you're looking for information. I do not claim to be an expert in Icelandic, Old Norse, or runes. I did my best with the resources I had (which I will list out at the bottom of the page). If you find an error, please let me know (select contact form at top of page).

Basic Steps for carving Runestones

Get award text.
Modify text to fit examples of Norse language patterns (still in English).
Translate into Old Norse.
Change to Runor form.
Research historical runestones for design ideas.
Do layout (pencil if carving wood, chalk if carving slate).
Carve design.
Treat wood if I carved in wood (stain).
Paint in design as appropriate.

First Translation/Design

Standard Scroll Text, per Scribes Handbook.

Note:I tried to maintain as much of the standard text here as I could. So, this is a blend of Norse and standard phrasing. The "[so that]" is to imply something that is not going to be directly translated, but implied. The 4th month of summer in the Norse Calendar was July, since I could not find direct names analogous to the Gregorian Calendar. The substitution of "Christian" for "Gregorian" was simple: "Gregorian" was not a term used by the Norse, but "Christian" was and the Gregorian Calendar was a Christian calendar derived from the older, Roman calendar.

Modified Text

All men shall know that we Lothar and Lydia, Baron and Baroness of Dragon's Back, Hail.

Finding our subject Lord Ormr Bogsneigr worthy, we name him a Companion of the Gentle Dragon. To Lord Ormr Bogsneigr, we give the guild badge and responsibility, his badge to bear: Gold, sleeping purple wingless dragon, with a blue sleeve, [so that] all men know.

Made [done] on the 29th day of the 4th month of Summer in the 41st year of the Fellowship, 2006 Christian. Raised by Baron Lothar and Baroness Lydia.

Norse Translation

Menn al-kunna vit Lothar ok Lydia, Barún ok Barúnar af Dreki-hryggr, Heíl. Vit finn okkarr þegn lávarðr OrmR Bogsneigr verðugt, vit á-nefna hana Félagi af Blíðr Dreki-hryggr. Lávarðr Ormr Bogsneigr gefa bróður-gildi ok ábyrgð, hana hafa merki: Gull, svefn blárauður ok nei vængur dreki ok blár ermi, menn al-kunna.

Görr tuttugandi ok níundi dagr af fjórði mánaðrinn af sumar-skeið fertugandi ok fyrstr ár Brœðra-lag, tveim þúsundir sex Kristinn. Reisatr Lothar Barún ok Lydia Barúnar.

Runor

I chose the Elder Runor, simply because I was already familiar with it and did not have the time to investigate later alphabets.

I traced out the layout on my slate and ran out of space.

With my slate out of space, I opted to ditch the blended text and start over. I read through translations of several runestones and opted for something much simpler.

Second Translation/Design

Modified Text, version 2

Baron Lothar and Baroness Lydia of Dragonsspine had this stone raised to honor Ormr Bogsneigr. He is a Companion of the Gentle Dragon on this 29th day of the 4th month of summer in the 41st year of the Fellowship [Society], 2006 Christian [Gregorian].

Norse Translation

Lothar Barún ok Lydia Barúnar af Dreki-hryggr, reisatr í steinn heiðra Ormr Bogsneigr. Hann er Félagi af Blíðr Dreki-hryggr görr tuttugandi ok níundi dagr af fjórði mánaðrinn af sumar-skeið á hinn fertugandi ok fyrstyr ár Brœðra-lag, tveim þúsundir sex Kristinn.

Runor

As before, I stuck with the Elder Runor. I researched stones and found one I could take almost verbatim.

Using cheap, Crayola chalk from Safeway, I drew out the design and runes.

With the design sketched out, and the runes in place, I began carving the stone using a scratch-awl.

First few runes
Rounding the first corner
Later runes up close. I ran out of the first track and observed how runes changed orientation in the historic stone. So, I micked the feel as best I could.
More runes. A broader view of the rune orientation.
Carving the decorations. Here, I began carving the World Serpent.
Chalk washed off.
Painting in lines. While most runestones used red pigment, I wanted to convey the badge's colors, without fill-painting the design.
Another shot with the yellow pigment.
Painted Badge.
Closeup of the painted badge of the order.
Painted rune track.

Post Project Notes

I selected a red-slate stone that I had on hand. Commonly, these stones are used for patios. The problem I ran into was that the stone was different than regular grey slate. It was more akin to sandstone and ground down my scratch awls (six of them, some lost two inches in length). The carving depth varied greatly, depending on where on the stone I was at. Some places let me go fairly deep and others, I barely scratched the surface.

I also recommend that if you want to do this, set up a sturdy slant and c-clamp the stone to the slant. I worked on my dining room table, getting dust everywhere. My wife was less than happy, but did her best to be understanding. Otherwise, I would not have finished...her support meant everything. Aside from the mess, I found myself leaning over the stone to keep my "birds eye view" as I carved, taking its toll on my back. A slant would have helped prevent this.

This is the second stone that I've done. The first "stone" was in wood. However, as I worked on the translation, I had better resources this time and I found mistakes in translation and rune conversion. I expect to find more every time I learn something new.

Resources

Old Norse for Beginners -- excellent website primer for learning the basics of Old Norse.
The Vikings by Magnus Magnusson. Authoritative book on the Norse. It has some nice pictures of runestones.
A History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones. Excellent book for historic information.
The Vikings: Lords of the Seas by Yves Cohat. Not an in depth book, but excellent for those wanting a novice overview of the Norse. Also, this book has some nice pictures in it (color photos).
Icelandic-English/English-Icelandic Dictionary by Arnold R. Taylor. While it uses the modern Icelandic, the two way dictionary gave me enough to go look up the historical Old Norse variation in Zoëga's dictionary.
Zoëga's A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. This is an authoritative dictionary. I would often supplement it with the online version, which has since been taken offline at its original URL.
An Introduction to Old Norse by E.V. Gordon. This book is a textbook originally published in 1927 and updated years later. It's intended for a classroom setting, not a teach-yourself.
Colloquial Icelandic: The Complete Course for Beginners by Daisy Neijmann. Useful lessons on modern Icelandic that can help with Old Norse.
Icelandic: Grammar, Text and Glossary by Stefan Einarsson. Had some excellent sections on grammar and pronunciation.
Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age by John Haywood. Useful for looking up various information.