Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1911-08-09
n. R. HOLLANDS DEFENSE OF
THE KENSINGTON RHINESTONE

Christiania, July 12.-At my lee
ture before the University Of Chris
tiania yesterday Prof. Hkegstad ad-
vanced number Of arguments in
support of his belief that the Ken
sington inscription is modern forg-
cry. His conclusion in this matter
has of course been long knownin Am
erica, but we have not hitherto been
made acquainted with his reasons
for condemning the inscription. |
have therefore thought it would in
terest the readers of the Norwegian
American to learn his objections.
The following points are what after
conversation with others can re-
member of his arguments:
l. Swedish endings are uniformly
in "a" or Gar" while We in the first
word of this inscription find g0ter
(should be g0tar).
2. The proposition "paa" or ''po"
does not occur in Scandinavian Ian
guages until 1910. Up to that time
the form was "a' or "aa". The in
scription cannot therefore be older
than 147O.
3. "Opdagelse" does not occur
until 100. The inscription cannot
therefore be older.
4. Singular verbs with plural
subjects have not even up to the
present day been introduced in Swed-
|ish. In Norway this usage first came
into existence by the royal mandate
Of 1865. The inscription cannot
therefore be older than 1865.
i 5. The inscription reads "fro
thenno OH" In 1862 the feminine
gender would demand the reading
"fro thessari 0y."
| 6. The syntax is impossible in that
"aeptir' is used as conjunction If
the clause "aeptir wi kom HEM"
| Z. The sentence xvi war ok ifs.
Ike," which must mean xvi war al
|fske," shows that the Inscription
was written after the conjunction
COX" and the mark Of the infinitivt
| "at" became confused by the common
pronunciation "aa". As this did moi
itake place until quite recently the in.
scription cannot be genuine.
| In reply to the above arguments
shall present the following:
| L.. It has been generally grant
ed that if the inscription is genuine
: it is the product of native of Wes'
gothland. In this part of SWede1
we find that there was no uniform
lily of endings in "a" or "ar". Col
lin and Schuyler in their learned in
Introduction to the Westgothlant
Law written about 1900 call spe
cial attention to the fact that end
ings in ser" are very common. The.
mention "saker" for "sakar," "kal
Ter" for "kallar," stalker" for "tak
ar" "uten" for "utan,'' "haereth" 70
"hearath," ''vegh" for "vagh," ina
Their" for "mathar," "stande" 70
"standa," etc.
(See introduction to the Westgoth
Hand Law, PIP ". V, KY
In Swedish letters of the XIV
century we find that there were dia
lects where endings in &c" or Ger
largely preponderated and Gar" oc
ours but seldom. See for instanc
a letter of 1345 mo. 3948 Swed
! Dip.) where we read "paa begge ar
winge sidhe."
Gamle Eriks Kr0nikon writtel
1920 and Karls Kr0nikon writer
1852 abound in endings in "e." Sc
lines 1924, 1896, 1897, 1886, 1915
1858, 6271, 9448, etc. This show
that the unaccented vowel in tn
last syllable was Of such uncertain
sound value that we sometimes fin
lit written with an "a'', sometime
with an "e". :,
2. The proposition "paa" or "po
occurs much earlier than 1910. Gam
lie Eriks Kr0nikon written 1920 says
"een draghe laa paa meget gull.
A letter Of 1886 says, "bodhe p
land ok strand" Another Of 1872
mo. 2419) says, "paa nogars sida.
Another Of 1345 mo. 3948) says
''paa begge arwinge sidhe." Quee
Margaret in 1893 writes "pa the
fornemfde garth" ........:
3. Kalkars dictionary show
that "opdage" was in current us
at least $50 years before 100. Sc
articles "opdage' and "optaekke'
The ending "else" we find in use wa
back in the 18th century.
It is impossible to state how 81
"opdage' is. It is presumably
loan from the Dutch where we fin
J it very early. It is reasonable to as
sumo that the runic scribe was /.
wandering sailor and in that case b