page_title: England runestones
section_title: Sm 5
hierarchical_section_title: England runestones / Småland / Sm 5
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Runstenen Sm 5 i Transjö, Hjortsberga socken, Alvesta. This is a picture of an archaeological site or a monument in Sweden, number 10072000350001 in the RAÄ Fornsök database.
context_page_description: The England runestones is a group of about 30 runestones in Sweden which refer to Viking Age voyages to England. They constitute one of the largest groups of runestones that mention voyages to other countries, and they are comparable in number only to the approximately 30 Greece Runestones and the 26 Ingvar Runestones, of which the latter refer to a Viking expedition to the Middle East. They were engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark.
  The Anglo-Saxon rulers paid large sums, Danegelds, to Vikings, who mostly came from Denmark and Sweden who arrived to the English shores during the 990s and the first decades of the 11th century. Some runestones relate of these Danegelds, such as the Yttergärde runestone, U 344, which tells of Ulf of Borresta who received the danegeld three times, and the last one he received from Canute the Great. Canute sent home most of the Vikings who had helped him conquer England, but he kept a strong bodyguard, the Þingalið, and its members are also mentioned on several runestones.
  The vast majority of the runestones, 27, were raised in modern-day Sweden and 17 in the oldest Swedish provinces around lake Mälaren.
context_section_description: This runestone is located in Transjö. It is one of the older stones as it is in the style RAK. The runes are unusual as the m-runes are dotted () and the k-runes have a stroke to the left instead of to the right. The stone was raised in memory of a son who died in England named Ketill, who was described as being óníðingr. Óníðingr, which with the ó- prefix means the opposite of the Old Norse pejorative word níðingr, was used to describe a man as being virtuous and is translated in the Rundata database as "unvillainous." It is used as a descriptive term on inscriptions Sö 189 in Åkerby, Sm 37 in Rörbro, Sm 147 in Vasta Ed, and DR 68 in Århus, and appears as a name or part of a name on inscriptions Ög 77 in Hovgården, Ög 217 in Oppeby, Sm 2 in Aringsås, and Sm 131 in Hjortholmen. The text on Sm 5, Sm 37, and Ög 77 use the same exact phrase manna mæstr oniðingʀ or "most unvillainous of men" to describe the deceased, and DR 68 uses a variant of this phrase.
  Latin transliteration:
  A : kotr : sati : sten : þana : eftʀ : ketil :
  B : sun : sin : han : faʀ :
  C : mana : mesr o:niþikʀ : eʀ a : eklati : ali : tunþi
  Old Norse transcription:
  A Gautr satti stæin þenna æftiʀ Kætil,
  B sun sinn. Hann vaʀ
  C manna mæstr oniðingʀ, eʀ a Ænglandi aldri tyndi.
  English translation:
  A "Gautr placed this stone in memory of Ketill"
  B "his son. He was"
  C "the most unvillainous of men, who forfeited his life in England."
caption: Sides B and C of Sm 5.
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