24 



RUNKBEHO 



KUNES 



for, and obtained, the post of reader of Roman 

 Literature in the college of Borga, where he spent 

 the rect of hi* life, and died 6th May IS77- IMir 

 ing these last yearn lie wrote an eptc of Kiist-ian 

 life, Nadetchdii (1841); a third volume of 1'ocnu 

 (1843); an epic of old Nome time*, King Fjalar 

 (1844); Entign Stal't Storiet (2 vols. 1848 and 

 1800); a alight hat merry little comedy. Can't 

 (1882); a fine tragedy in the old Greek spirit, 

 The King* in SaJamu (1863); and some short 

 Prote Writing* (1854). King Fjiilar is, artisti- 

 cally, bu greatest achievement, if not the greatest 

 achievement in Swedish literature ; but its fame 

 has been eclipsed by Ensign S til's glowing stories 

 of Finland's heroic struggle against the giant 

 Russia in 1809. The opening poem of the series, 

 'Our land, our land,' has been fittingly chosen as 

 the national song of Finland. The very heart of 

 the people throlw in these stirring song's. In 1857, 

 after four years' laliour, Ituneliurg edited for the 

 Lutheran Church of Finland a Psalm-book, in 

 which were included above sixty pieces from his 

 own pen. He also excelled as a translator of folk- 

 songs from Servian, German, and other languages. 

 There is only one single poem in all his longer 

 works that lacks the finished simplicity, beauty, 

 and classic restraint which are so characteristic 

 of him ; that is a cycle entitled Nights uf Jealousy, 

 written in early youth. 



The best biography (but only reaching down to 1837) 

 is J. E. StrumboV* (3 parts, Hclsingfors, 1880-89). 

 Thu mut be supplemented by Nyblom's preface to 

 Kuni'berg's Samladr Slcrifter (6 vols. Stockholm, 1873 

 74) and monographs (in Swedish) by Dietrichson and 

 lUncken (Stockholm, 1864), Cygniiui ( HeUingf ore, 1873), 

 and Vanenius ( HeUingf ors, 1890), a Life (in German) by 

 Peochier (Stuttgart, 1881), and the preface to Eigen- 

 brodt'i excellent German translation of Knneberg's epic 

 poenu ( 2 vol. Halle, 1891 ). English readers will find a 

 awful account of Kuncberg'n life, with specimens of his 

 poems translated, in E. W. Uosse's Northern Studies 

 (1879); a fairly faithful translation of his lyric poems, 

 with a biographical notice, in Magnusson and Palmer's 

 Runcberg'i Lyrical Songi ( 1878 ) ; and an indifferent 

 translation of ffadaekda by Mrs Shipley (1891). 



It ii lies. In the Scandinavian lands, Sweden, 

 Denmark, and Norway, thousands of inscriptions 

 have been fouml written in the ancient alphabet of 

 the heathen Northmen. Similar records are scat- 

 tered sparsely and sporadically over the region* 

 which were overrun or settled by the Baltic tribes 

 between the 2d century and the 10th. A few are 

 found in Kent, which was conquered by the Jutes, 

 others in Cumberland, Dumfries-bin-. Orkney, and 

 the Isle of Man, which were occupied by the 

 Norwegians, and in Yorkshire, which was settled 

 by the Angles. One or two have lieen found in the 

 valley of the Danube, which was the earliest hull- 

 ing place of the Goths in their migration south- 

 wards ; and there is reason to believe that a similar 

 alphabet was used by the Visigoths and Bur- 

 gimdiaiiN in Spain anil France, while it is null- 

 worthy that there is no trace of this writing 

 having Ix-en used in Germany, or by the Saxons 

 and Pranks. 



The writing is called Rnnic, the individual letters 

 are called nine-staves, or less correctly runes, and 

 the runic alphaU-t is called the Futhorc, from 

 the lir-t siv letters/, ii, th, o, r, e. The Old Norse 

 won! run originally meant something ' secret ' or 

 magical. The oldest extant runic records may 

 date from the 1st century A. p., the latest from 

 the 15th or 16th, the greater number Ix-ing older 

 than the llth century, when after the conversion 

 of tin- Scandinavians the futhorc was superseded 

 by thi! Ijitin alphalH-t. The form, number, and 

 value of the ninic letters changed considerably 

 during the many centuries they were in use, the 

 runes of diileri-nt |>eriods and countries exhibiting 



considerable differences. They may. however, be 

 arranged in three main divisions: (1) tin- <...thi.- 

 or old Scandinavian runes, which are chielly found 

 in inscriptions curlier than the (itli century ; (2) 

 the Anglian runes, used in Northumhria from the 

 7th to the 9th century ; (3) the later Scandinavian 

 nines, used in Sweden and Norway in the 7th and 

 following centuries. These futhorcs are shown in 



Name*. 

 fech, feb, fe 

 nr 



thorn 



rad, rat 



oen 



gifu 



wen 



hegl, hagal 



nyd, nod 



is 



ger, yr, ar 



ili. eoh 



peorth, perc 



ilix, calc 



sigil 



tir 



berc 



ech, eh 



man 



I"-'" 



ing 



dag 



othil 



Values. 



f 



u 



th 

 , a, o 



r 



h 

 n 

 i 



g, J, 

 yo, eo 



P 

 a,i,k,x 



8 

 t 

 b 



6 



m 

 1 



ng 

 d 



0, 03 



Goth. AngL Scan. 



the table. The oldest is the Gothic futhorc of 

 twenty-four runes, divided into three families, 

 each of eight nines. This is used in about 200 

 inscriptions, several of which can be approxim- 

 ately dated from the 3d century to the 5th, while 

 others, from the more archaic forms of the runes, 

 must, talong to an earlier period. The oldest 

 to which a date can ! assigned is on a golden 

 torque from a temple of the heathen Goths in 

 \Vallachia, which must be earlier than the con- 

 version of the Goths in the 3d century. In the 

 Anglian futhorc, which was derived from the 

 Col hie, many new nines were obtained by differen- 

 tiation, and the phonetic values underwent consiilei 

 aide changes. The Anglian runes are from 25 to 40 

 in number. The later Scandinavian futhorc, in 

 which the greater number of runic inscriptions 

 were written, consists of a definite alphabet of 16 

 runes. 



The origin of the ninic writing has lx-en a nciiter 

 of prolonged controversy. The runes were formerly 

 supposed to have originated out of the I'lio-nieian 

 or the Latin letters, but it is now generally agreed 

 that they must have been derived about the 6th 

 century B.C., from an early form of the Greek 

 alphabet which was employed by the Milesian 

 traders and colonists of Olhia and other towns mi 

 the northern shores of the Black Sea. These 

 traders, as we know from Herodotus, penetrated 

 to the north by the trade-route of the Dnie|>er, as 

 far probably as the territory occupied by the Goths 

 on the head-waters of the Vistula. This conjecture 

 is confirmed by the fact that Greek coins struck in 



