Gs 13

Gästrikland Runic Inscription 13 or Gs 13 is a runestone carved on red sandstone located in a church in Gävle, Gästrikland. It was carved in the 11th century by the runemaster Åsmund Kåresson.^[1]

The place name Tafeistaland (modern Swedish: Tavastland) in the inscription refers to a geographical region in Finland. The runic text for three consecutive words follows the rule that two consecutive identical letters are represented by a single rune, even when the two identical letters are at the end of one word and the start of a second word.^[2] When the text shown as Latin characters, the transliterated runes are doubled and separate words are shown. The rune sequence honsalukuþ is shown in the inscription below as hons| |salu| |uk| |kuþ(s) by doubling the s-, u-, and k-runes and separating the three words.

Runic inscription

Original inscription:

× brusi lit rita s-... ... [(a)]b--ʀ (i)h(i)(l) brur sin : in h-n uarþ tauþr a tafstalonti × þo brusi furþi lank lans ' abtiʀ [br](u)r sin h(o)[n] fur (m)iʀ fraukiʀi kuþ hialbi hons| |salu| |uk| |kuþ(s) (m)(u)[þiʀ ' suain ' uk osmunrt ' þaiʀ markaþu] +

The inscription has been translated into English in two ways:

• Brúsi had this stone erected in memory of Egill, his brother. And he died in Tafeistaland, when Brúsi brought [= led?] the land's levy[?] [= army] in memory of his brother. He traveled with Freygeirr. May God and God's mother help his soul. Sveinn and Ásmundr, they marked.
• Brúsi had this stone erected in memory of Egill, his brother. And he died in Tafeistaland, when Brúsi bore long-spear [=battle standard] after his brother. He travelled with Freygeirr. May God and God's mother help his soul. Sveinn and Ásmundr, they marked.

References

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