Norwegian Runologist Cracks Never Before Interpreted Ancient Jötunvillur Code

For several years experts were puzzled about the meaning of an ancient jötunvillur code. Now it has been cracked by a runologist from Norway, which revealed that the ancient Vikings were also fond of creating messages that were quite playful. K. Jonas Nordby, a PhD student from the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oslo has cracked the puzzling code. The jötunvillur code existed in Scandinavia around the 12th or the 13th century. The code was cracked after Mr. Nordby carefully studied a stick from the 13th century. On the stick, Lavrans and Sigurd had carved their names in standard runes and in jötunvillur code. This is the first time that it was interpreted.

Clues

According to Nordby, it was the two Norse names of old, Lavrans and Sigurd that led him to crack the code. He said that the rune combinations after the names initially made no sense at all. Later he realized that in the old code of jötunvillur, the last sound in a rune name was usually swapped with the rune sign. However, cracking the code was not that simple even with the rule. There are numerous runes that sound the same, which can make it more confusing and time consuming because it takes time to choose the right one.

He also added that there could still be sticks out there that were engraved with the names Einar and Thorstein.

Communication tool

Nordby explained that these sticks that were engraved with the jötunvillur code were just objects used every day, which is why there are names etched on them. It could be something they used for communication. It could be something they want to sell or keep. It could be used for writing practice or it could be like gossip, when they talked about people whose names appeared on the sticks. Very few have the jötunvillur code, which are used generally for communication, just like the SMS that are quite common today.

Some of the codes that have already been deciphered are quite funny and witty. One such find that came from Sweden had “kiss me” as the message. There was also one that was found in the Orkneys which stated that the runes were written by the most skilled writer of runes that lived on the west side of the sea.

Used for education

Nordby posits that the jötunvillur could be an educational tool, not something like the codes used during WWII or the codes used for secure communication. He believes that the codes were used for learning the rune names or the alphabet and used as a teaching aid to read and write runes.

Also of great importance is the discovery that the rune writers also had a sense of humor and playfulness.

Photo credit: Taken by achird> under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.