Well-wishes, jewellery

kurja

New Member
Hi all,

new member here, I joined to look for help finding a suitable "wish-you-well" to put on a piece of jewellery; I'm making a silver pendant as a gift to a friend who has a nerdy nerve for vikings and Norse mythology. The plan (so far) is to have on the front side an adaptation of the image of sleipnir on Tjängvide stone, and on the back side I'd like to engrave a theme-fitting phrase or such. Which is where I'm stumped. Could you suggest an aphorism or such, ideally something from the Eddas? It has to be relatively short, I'm using simple hand tools and the piece it has to fit on will be about coin-sized.

Then I'd need to figure out how to express it in old Norse using younger futhark, but all in due time ;)
 

The Misfit

New Member
I would suggest the word "alu". It is a magic rune word found inscribed all over the place by Norse people. The exact meaning is somewhat obscure, and may literally mean "ale" but in magical context seems to be referring to a divine transcendental state (as can be achieved by drinking much ale). I believe the word is used in the Eddas but I can't give you a citation off hand.
You can find out more about "alu" here:
http://www.vikingrune.com/2008/12/magic-runes/
And here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alu_(runic)
 

kurja

New Member
Thank you, much appreciated! I really like the article on vikingrune.com - I tried to find examples of runic inscriptions on viking era jewellery, but could not find any examples - although these "bracteates" appear to pre-date viking era. I'm aiming for some historic authenticity and consistency, but for sure I'll be taking a few liberties.

I'm still hoping to find something suitable that's preferably more than a couple symbols in length, I guess I should just start browsing the Eddas again...
 

kurja

New Member
I had a chance to browse through some books on a bus trip, and I found a few lines lines in Grógaldr, where Svipdagr wakes her mother, a dead völva, to make protective spells as he is setting out to a dangerous journey. In the ninth spell:
máls ok manvits
sé þér á munn ok hjarta
gnóga of gefit
I like! I also found another version of it:
máls og manvits
sé þér úr Mímis hjarta
gnóga of gefið
Mimir's heart would be a nice touch, but we'll see. The number of symbols I can use is very much restricted, so that will definitely be a factor, I'll have to see if I can condense that into two lines instead of three. Also, the former quote seems to be old Norse in Icelandic writing, while the latter looks like it's just Icelandic, unless I've mistaken. Can some explain the word "manvits" to me? Vits would mean intellect, wit, knowledge - but "manvits"?

And then ofc I'll need to figure out the whole awful mess of writing that in runes, but all in due time :)
 
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