There is nothing to suggest that medieval people were less concerned with sex than we are today. On a stick found at Bryggen in Bergen, a message has been engraved that can make most people put their coffee down their throats: “Jón silkifuð á mik en Guþormr fuðsleikir reist mik en Jón fuðkula ræðr mik”. The city museum in Bergen has a separate section for the rune sticks with the most oral inscriptions. Photo: Synnøve Astrid Malt / news For those who are not so steady in reading runes, this can be translated like this: “Jon silkefitte owns me, and Guttorm fittesleiker risset me, and Jon cuntekule means me.” If you thought that using insulting words for genitalia was a modern phenomenon, you need to think again. These are runes Runes are an old written language, which was used in northern and central Europe right up to the Reformation in the 16th century. The oldest runic inscription found in Norway is up to 2000 years old. Runes were carved on stone, sticks, bones, walls and objects. Some of the runes are still clear, even after a thousand years. The runic alphabet is called the Futhark. The name is formed from the first six runes of the alphabet: f, u, þ (th), a, r and k. The oldest version of the alphabet, known as older futhark, had 24 characters. This alphabet was in use from around 100 to 700 AD. At the beginning of the Viking Age in the 7th century, the runic script underwent several changes, and younger Futhark came into use. It consisted of 16 characters. Source: Bergen City Museum and Great Norwegian Lexicon Eye-catching stick Krister Vasshus is a language historian and is currently working on a PhD on place names at the University of Bergen. Through his research, he has analyzed hundreds of runes. Some attract more attention than others. Is the pussy lovely or ugly? The learned contend. Photo: Synnøve Astrid Malt / news The rune pin from Bergen led Vasshus to write a blog post about old words for genitals, which in turn became an article on forskning.no. Here, Vasshus explains the meaning of the runic inscription. – Fuð means pussy, he says. Vasshus believes that the inscription on the runic stick from Bergen is a so-called joking inscription – an attempt to make fun of these three men. So they had both humor and coarse language, even in the old days. Krister Vasshus is a linguist and researcher, and well above average interested in runes. Photo: Krister Vasshus “Herlig er fitten” This is also not the only stick with slightly coarser language that Vasshus came across. On another rune stick, also found at Bryggen in Bergen, it says: “Felleg er fuþ sin bylli.” This can be interpreted in several ways, but Vasshus mentions, among other things, this interpretation: “Lovely is the pussy, may the dick bestow her.” “Fæl is the one who brings drink to the pussy”, is another possible interpretation. Museum educator Knut Høiaas says that they have the world’s largest collection of rune sticks on display at the City Museum in Bergen. Photo: Synnøve Astrid Malt / news – Sitting far inside talking about pussy on TV Both runic sticks were found in the 1960s, and are estimated to be from around 1200–1300. It is the wet climate in Bergen that has meant that the runic inscriptions are so well preserved, explains the researcher. For a long time the sticks were stored in the basement of the City Museum in Bergen, but since 2019 they have been part of the museum’s large exhibition of runic sticks. Vasshus wonders if this type of discovery is being slightly under-communicated. – Maybe it’s because researchers like me think it’s a bit embarrassing. It is a bit far-fetched to talk about pussy on national TV, for example. Museum pedagogue at the City Museum in Bergen, Knut Høiaas, does not think that is the case. – No, I might not think so. Perhaps, on the contrary, they think it’s a bit cool, that it’s a bit more flamboyant than the research they’re otherwise engaged in. I don’t think that this is something that people have refused to promote, says the museum educator. Høiaas adds that there is no particular reason why the rune sticks were not exhibited until 2019, other than that they may have been forgotten a little. Vasshus, the oldest Norwegian word for genitalia, also mentions several slightly dirty words that have a long history. – We have, for example, kuk, dick, cust and kunte, where the latter is the same word as the English cunt. The word kuk comes from a word that originally meant lump, while the word dick originally meant spike, says Vasshus. Some runes are only visible if the light hits just right. Photo: Synnøve Astrid Malt / news But none of these have as long a history as the words for the female genital organ. Kuse and kunte probably meant “something swelling”, explains the researcher. – This is the oldest registered word for genital that is still in use, he says. – Beloved child has many names, isn’t that what we usually say? It’s something we like to tinker with. So even if it’s behind closed doors, people have talked about it, even in the Middle Ages. Knut Høiaas thinks that the slightly dingy rune sticks have a greater value than just being funny. – It gives us a unique entrance into the minds of these people, an insight into what they were thinking. The thoughts, ideas and imaginations that they had in the Middle Ages may not always be so far from those that we have today. The inscription on the rune sticks from Bergen can make most people smile a little extra, says Knut Høiaas, museum educator at the City Museum in Bergen. Photo: Synnøve Astrid Malt / news Bragging about one’s conquests is not a new phenomenon either, we are to believe the museum educator. – Among other things, there is someone who has written that “Ingebjørg loved me when I was in Stavanger”. So it’s a kind of bragging inscription, we think. There are several such bragging rights, says Høiaas. Medieval snapchat In general, written documents are meant to be read and taken care of. In the Middle Ages, only the upper class wrote on parchment and could use the Latin script. – While runic sticks are a popular form of writing. Everyone had a knife, and everyone could find a stick. The runic sticks come in many different shapes and forms – and with many different engravings. Photo: Synnøve Astrid Malt / news But the rune sticks were not meant to be taken care of, says Høiaas. – It’s like medieval Snapchat. Høiaas explains: – It is a message that something has written and then delivered to a recipient who has read the message. When the message has been read, the stick has played out its value, and then it has been thrown. This is clearly reflected in the slightly more verbal messages that have been engraved on the rune sticks, says the museum educator. – Well, nobody thought that these would be found 700 years later. But it is an important part of our history, this too, concludes Høiaas. Published 03.08.2024, at 16.39
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Old Norwegian words for genital found on a rune stick at Bryggen in Bergen – news Vestland
