Erilaz

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Erilaz is a Migration period Proto-Norse word attested on various Elder Futhark inscriptions, which has often been interpreted to mean "magician" or "rune master", viz. one who is capable of writing runes to magical effect. The word is linguistically related to the name of the tribe of the Heruli, however, and as Mees (2003) has shown, both are ablaut variants of earl, so it is probably merely an old Germanic military title.

The Lindholm amulet is a bone piece found in Skåne, dated to the 2nd to 4th centuries:

:ekerilazsawilagazhateka:aaaaaaaazzznnn?bmuttt:alu:

read as

:ek erilaz sawilagaz hateka; "aaaaaaaazzznnn?bmuttt" alu.

Translated as "I, the Erilaz, am called Sawilagaz; ... charm". Sawilagaz means "the one of the Sun (Sowilo)". Alu is a word for spell or charm. This sequence has been interpreted as a magical formula: the three consecutive t runes as an invocation of Tyr, and the eight As runes as an invocation or symbolic list of eight Æsir.

The Kragehul I spear-shaft found in Funen

:ekerilazasugisalasmuhahaitegagagaginuga [....]

:ek erilaz asugisalas muha haite, gagaga gin[n]u ga

Interpreted as "I, the Erilaz of Asugisalaz am called Muha" followed by some sort of battle cry or chant. Asugisalaz contains ansu- "god" and gisala- "sprout, offspring". Muha may either be a personal name, or a word meaning "retainer" or similar. The runes of gagaga are displayed as a row of three bindrunes based on the X-shape of the g rune with sidetwigs attached to its extremities for the a. A similar sequence gægogæ is found on the Undley bracteate.

Bracteates Eskatorp-F and Väsby-F have e[k]erilaz
Bratsberg clasp: ekerilaz
Veblingsnes:ekerilaz
Rosseland: ekwagigazerilaz
Järsberg: ekerilaz
By: ekirilaz
the Etelheim clasp has mkmrlawrta read as ek erla wrta "I, Erla, wrote this".

References

Mees, B. 2003, 'Runic erilaR', North-Western European Language Evolution (NOWELE), 42:41-68.

External links

http://www.runenprojekt.uni-kiel.de/abfragen/standard/wortmaterial3.asp?wklasse=NAM&wordno=409

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