Kvinneby amulet

[1] The amulet is a square copper plate measuring approximately 5 cm on each side.

Ignoring what seem to be bind runes at the start of the inscription, he offered this transliteration: and the following translation into English: Glory to thee bear I, Bove.

Nilsson suggests that the meaning is based on the names of the runes; thus the amulet should give a björg from hagl and nauð or a “deliverance” from “hail” and “need”.

According to Lindquist the amulet contains a solemn prayer to the Earth Goddess, referred to as ‘Erka’, ‘Fold’ and ‘Undirgoð’ (:the god beneath) and her ‘single son’ Thor.

Two of Lindquist’s suggested interpretations are: Here I, in poetry am familiar with the god(dess) beneath, for me, Bófi, to save myself.

According to Westlund, Lindquist’s attempts at deciphering the “bind runes” at the beginning of the inscription are misguided.

To support his claim he compares the runes with an inscription found near Novgorod in 1983 and treated by the Russian runologist Elena Melnikova in 1987.

Westlund reads the first runes as “hiristikþirbirkbufi” and takes them to mean (in standardized West Norse) “Hér rísti ek þér björg Bófi,” which would come out in English as “Here I carve protection for you, Bófi.” This is a major change from Lindquist's interpretation.

His transliteration and translation of the whole inscription follow: x hiristik þiʀ birk / bufi meʀ fultihu / þis þeʀ uis in bral / tilu fran bufa þor keti h / ans miʀ þem hamri samhuʀ / hafikam fly fran iluit feʀ eki af bufa kuþ iʀu / untiʀ hanum auk yfiʀ han / um Here I may carve (or: I carved) protection for you, Bófi, with … is certain to you.

Gods are under him and over him.In his conclusion Westlund rejects Lindquist’s view of the amulet as a solemn heathen prayer.

In 1992 Ottar Grønvik offered a new interpretation which is essentially an attempt to rehabilitate Lindquist's work.

In 2001 Jonna Louis-Jensen continued in the same vein as Grønvik with an interpretation involving a sickness demon named Ámr.

As part of her dissertation “Viking-Age Runic Plates: Readings and Interpretations”, Sofia Pereswetoff-Morath discusses this find.

Her reading most closely resembles that of Bruce E. Nilsson, disregarding all speculation about a demon Ámr.