The
Pforzen buckle is a silver belt buckle found in
PforzenPforzen is a municipality in Ostallgäu, Bavaria.Near Pforzen is an extended Alemannic cemetery that was in use from the 5th up to the 8th century. A total of 442 graves were excavated in two campaigns in 1991/2 and 1996. Two items bearing runic inscriptions were recovered, the Pforzen buckle in...
,
OstallgäuOstallgäu is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Oberallgäu, Unterallgäu, Augsburg, Landsberg, Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and by the Austrian state of Tyrol...
(Schwaben) in 1992. The
AlemannicAlemannic may refer to:* Alamanni, a Germanic tribe of the first millennium* Alemannic German, a dialect family in the Upper German branch of the German language and its speakers...
grave in which it was found (no. 239) dates to the end of the 6th century and was presumably that of a warrior, as it also contained a lance,
spathaThe spatha was a type of straight sword with a long point, measuring between 0.75 and 1 m, in use throughout 1st millennium Europe and the territory of the Roman Empire until about AD 600. Later swords through about AD 1000 are recognizable derivatives, though not spathae.The predecessor of the...
,
seaxSeax in Old English stands for knife or cutting tool...
and shield. The buckle itself is assumed to be of Roman-Mediterranean origin, possibly the product of a
LombardThe Lombards were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italy in 568 under the leadership of Alboin. They established a Kingdom of Italy which lasted until 774, when it was conquered by the Franks...
or
GepidThe Gepids were an East Germanic Gothic tribe most famous in history for defeating the Huns after the death of Attila...
workshop.
The buckle bears a runic inscription on its front, incised after its manufacture:
- aigil andi aïlrun [ornament or bind-rune]
- ltahu (or elahu) gasokun [ornamental braid]
Linguistic analysis of the inscription reveals that it was composed in early
Old High GermanThe term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
and is thus considered the oldest preserved line of
alliterative verseIn prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of many Germanic...
in any West Germanic language (while the
Golden horns of GallehusThe Golden Horns of Gallehus were two horns made of sheet gold, discovered in Gallehus, north of Møgeltønder in South Jutland, Denmark.The horns date to the early 5th century, i.e. the beginning of the Germanic Iron Age....
inscription, roughly one century older, is considered the oldest example of a North Germanic metrical line).
The
Pforzen buckle is a silver belt buckle found in
PforzenPforzen is a municipality in Ostallgäu, Bavaria.Near Pforzen is an extended Alemannic cemetery that was in use from the 5th up to the 8th century. A total of 442 graves were excavated in two campaigns in 1991/2 and 1996. Two items bearing runic inscriptions were recovered, the Pforzen buckle in...
,
OstallgäuOstallgäu is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Oberallgäu, Unterallgäu, Augsburg, Landsberg, Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and by the Austrian state of Tyrol...
(Schwaben) in 1992. The
AlemannicAlemannic may refer to:* Alamanni, a Germanic tribe of the first millennium* Alemannic German, a dialect family in the Upper German branch of the German language and its speakers...
grave in which it was found (no. 239) dates to the end of the 6th century and was presumably that of a warrior, as it also contained a lance,
spathaThe spatha was a type of straight sword with a long point, measuring between 0.75 and 1 m, in use throughout 1st millennium Europe and the territory of the Roman Empire until about AD 600. Later swords through about AD 1000 are recognizable derivatives, though not spathae.The predecessor of the...
,
seaxSeax in Old English stands for knife or cutting tool...
and shield. The buckle itself is assumed to be of Roman-Mediterranean origin, possibly the product of a
LombardThe Lombards were a Germanic people originally from Northern Europe who settled in the valley of the Danube and from there invaded Byzantine Italy in 568 under the leadership of Alboin. They established a Kingdom of Italy which lasted until 774, when it was conquered by the Franks...
or
GepidThe Gepids were an East Germanic Gothic tribe most famous in history for defeating the Huns after the death of Attila...
workshop.
Inscription
The buckle bears a runic inscription on its front, incised after its manufacture:
- aigil andi aïlrun [ornament or bind-rune]
- ltahu (or elahu) gasokun [ornamental braid]
Linguistic analysis of the inscription reveals that it was composed in early
Old High GermanThe term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...
and is thus considered the oldest preserved line of
alliterative verseIn prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal structuring device to unify lines of poetry, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of many Germanic...
in any West Germanic language (while the
Golden horns of GallehusThe Golden Horns of Gallehus were two horns made of sheet gold, discovered in Gallehus, north of Møgeltønder in South Jutland, Denmark.The horns date to the early 5th century, i.e. the beginning of the Germanic Iron Age....
inscription, roughly one century older, is considered the oldest example of a North Germanic metrical line). However, scholars have yet to reach a consensus as to its exact import.
Interpretations
Wagner (1995) reads the final ornament in line 1 as a
bind runeA bind rune is a ligature of two or more runes. They are extremely rare in Viking Age inscription, but are common in pre-Viking Age and in post-Viking Age inscriptions....
consisting of
(
angi) and connects this directly with the beginning of line 2, producing
angiltahu. He translates the inscription as "Aigil and Ailrun scolded Angiltah". However, this interpretation has been criticized (Düwel 2001) on the grounds that (1) the scribe had no apparent reason to resort to a complex bind-rune for part of the inscription and (2) a ‘scolding’ does not seem to be worthy of an inscription on an object interred with the remains of a warrior.
Düwel (2001) reads the end of line 1 as a simple ornament and the beginning of line 2 as a bind-rune formed of
(
el), producing the transliteration
elahu, which would represent an acc. pl. of
elah(h)o "elk, stag". The whole is then read as
Áigil andi Áilrun |
élahu[n] gasókun. The verb
gasókun is understood as an early form of Old High German
gasahhan "forsake, deny, repent", and translated as “Aigil and Ailrun damned the stags (i.e. the stag masquerades)”. This is seen as a reference to the
heathenGermanic paganism, or Germanic mythology includes the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples preceding their Christianization. The best documented version of the Germanic pagan religions is 10th and 11th century Odinism, though other information can be found from Anglo-Saxon and...
tradition of dressing up in the skins of stags as part of New Year celebrations. Thus the inscription is to be understood as the record of the declaration of a couple (Aigil and Ailrun) to forsake participation in the celebration, possibly as a sign of their acceptance of
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
.
Nedoma (2004) also sees the end of line 1 as ornament, yet reads the beginning of line 2 as a bind-rune composed of
(
íl), and the whole as
Áigil andi Áilrun |
Íltahu gasōkun. This would translate as "Aigil and Ailrun fought at the Ilz river". This is seen as a reference to
EgilEgil is a legendary hero of the Völundarkviða and the Thidreks saga. The name is from Proto-Germanic *Agilaz, and the same legend is reflected in Old English Ægil of the Franks Casket and Alamannic Aigil of the Pforzen buckle....
, the heroic archer of
Norse mythologyNorse, North Germanic, or Scandinavian mythology comprises the myths of North Germanic pre-Christian religion.Most of the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled in medieval Iceland in Old Norse, notably as the Edda....
, who is depicted on the lid of the Auzon Runic or
Franks CasketThe Franks Casket is a small whalebone chest, carved with narrative scenes in flat two-dimensional low-relief and with Anglo-Saxon runes. The casket is dateable from the language of its inscriptions and other features to the mid-seventh century CE. The casket is densely decorated with images and...
together with his wife (presumably Ailrun) engaged in battle. The casket is thought to date to approximately the same time as the Pforzen buckle.
Looijenga (2003) argues that the inscription shows evidence of scribal error. Assuming that the verse alliterates, she interprets the
at the beginning of line 2 as indicative of an original
[a]l. Her amended reading runs
Aigil andi Ailrūn |
(a)l tahu gasokun, which she translates as "Aigil and Ailrun vigorously fought/condemned all". She also suggests that the text could be a quotation from a lost version of the Wieland story.