Runic Texts Research Articles

The inscription on the Vimose plane and (other) West Germanic finds from Denmark

Abstract The Vimose plane features an early runic inscription that has long remained opaque, with none of the attempts to explain it having commanded assent in the historiography. Like the inscription on the Vimose buckle, however, the text on the wood plane appears to preserve an early example of West Germanic religious language. The inscription on the sharpener shows some parallels with comparable Roman texts but also distinctively West Germanic phonological development. The text on the plane seems to be one of several early runic texts found in the Southern Scandinavian votive bogs that preserve Ingvaeonic features.

Čök/Sök Ritual in Altaic Shamanism from Ancient Turks to Present Day

The word čök which has only been found in Tepsey VI, Tuba II and one inscription from Adrianov’s collection, and has been interpreted differently by Turcologists such as Malov, Kyzlasov, Klyashtorny, Erdal, Orkun, Barutcu-Özönder and Aydın. In this study, the word čök identified in the Turkic runic texts of Siberia, and the associated ritual of libation have been evaluated as an ancient and common element in the Shamanism of Altaic peoples for the first time in Turcology. For this reason, traces of the concept have been searched in Tungus-Manchu, Korean and Mongolian as well as Turkic languages belonging to the Altaic language family. It has been emphasized that this word, which was recorded in different forms among Turkic and Mongolic peoples, can be an old and common Altaic word. In this way, the existence of Shamanism among the ancient Turks living in the Yenisei region has been exemplified with this word, and it’s been seen that this concept has been preserved until the 21st century in societies speaking Turkic, Mongolic and Manchu-Tungusic languages and perpetuating traditional Shamanism. And results of this research have been presented to the service of Turcology.

The word-formation potential of affixes in the ancient Turkic runic texts

In the era of the Old Turkic Khaganates, a full-fledged structure of the Turkic word was formed in the runic language. Historical relics of the proto-Turkic protoforms are still preserved in the root morphemes: primary roots, verb-nominal syncretism, and sound-phonemic variability of roots. In the language of runic monuments the corpus of service morphemes after the root – the affixes – was quite well developed, so there was a quite well developed system of morphology and derivation in the Proto-Turkic language. These service morphemes can be functionally classified as formative and word-formative. The purpose of the article is to reveal the functions and meanings of Old Turkic word-formation affixes.The basic unit of affixal word-formation is a word forming component, in which the formal semantic connection between the generating and derivative stems is determined by semantic motivation. In the case of direct motivation, the meaning of a derived word is formed from the meanings of the generating word and the word-forming affix. The affixes involved in word formation have a word-forming function, and their word-forming meaning is determined by the system-forming function. The author shows the diversity of word-formation meanings. The meanings of old Turkic affixes survived in the modern Turkic languages

Forward Elements in Runic Texts Written on Paper with Old Turkic Script

Eski Türk yazısı, taşlara işlenmenin yanı sıra kâğıtlar üzerine de yazılmıştır. Eski Türk yazısıyla yazılmış el yazmaları, eski Türk yazıtlarından kimi farklılıklar içermektedir. Bu yazmalardaki kimi dil bilgisel yapılar, anlamsal çağrışımlar, anlatım yöntem ve teknikleri ile bağlam içerisinde geçen sözcükler, söz konusu farklılıkları oluşturan kimi unsurlardır. Farklılıklarının yanında, yazıt ve el yazmaları ortak unsurlar barındırmaktadır. Bu ortaklıklar bağlamında el yazmalarının söz varlığı açısından incelenmesi, bu yazmaların anlaşılmasında katkılar sunmaktadır. Kimi türemiş sözcüklerin kök biçimlerinin tespiti, bu noktada önemli bir konudur. El yazmalarının yazarları, türemiş biçimlerini kullandıkları sözcüklerin kök biçimlerinden haberdardılar. Bu tip kök biçimleri bağlam içerisinde yer almayıp türemiş biçimleri bulunan yapılara ileri öge denilmektedir. Bu yazıda, el yazmalarında görülen ileri ögeler tespit edilecektir. Bu tespit, el yazmalarının yazıtlar ile söz varlığı açısından ortaklık ve bağlantılarının saptanmasına katkılar sunacaktır. Kök biçimlerin saptanması, el yazmalarının söz varlığı açısından zenginliğini anlamakta önemli bir yere sahiptir. Yapılan bu çalışmada, gövde biçim olarak belirlenen yapılar kök biçime ulaşıncaya kadar yapısal ve anlamsal açıdan çözümlenecektir. Yazıda ayrıca üzerinde durulan sözcüklerin etimolojik açıklamaları yapılmış olacaktır.

Повседневно-практические тексты в средневековой Скандинавии и Древней Руси

The paper is focused on the comparative study of Scandinavian everyday runic texts (inscribed on wooden rods, bones, and other cheap materials) dated back the end of 11–14th centuries (of which most were found in Bergen) and old Russian birch bark manuscripts dd. 11–15th centuries (originated mainly from Novgorod). The authors compare diverse types and varieties of documents as well as their share in both text corpuses. While they are rather similar in general, there are a number of essential differences, the major of which is the almost complete lack of business documents in the Scandinavian materials, abundantly available in Novgorod. The authors explain this fact in the context of both various origins of the everyday writing in Scandinavia and Rus’ (pre-Christian and “personal” origins of runic writing vs. the essential role of Christianity and princely power in the development of writing within Rus’) and diverse historical conditions in medieval Bergen and Novgorod (in Novgorod, in contrast to Bergen, communications with the extensive peripheral territories played a significant role).

«Бата беру» в культуре казахов – традиции и новации

Purpose. The article explores the evolutionary processes of the Kazakh tradition “bata beru” – a blessing. Results. The origins of this tradition date back to the era of the Early Middle Ages. Runic texts on stelae of Orkhon memorial complexes of the aristocracy of the Second Turkic khanate – Bilge Kagan, Kul-Tegin, Tonyukuk contain language that is typologically close to the later “bata” of the Turkic peoples. Gradually, this tradition institutionalized in Kazakh society; there were certain types of “bata” and structure. Despite the revolutionary transition of the traditional nomadic society to an industrial one, and then the post-industrial society, the “bata” has not lost its value by performing, in our opinion, the magic-application function. The consequence of the revolutionary transformation of the Kazakh traditional society began to change in the semantic content of the “bata”. For example, requests relating to the nomadic way of life, the presence of Kydyr ata in the house, mentioning the senior wives and 12 children are currently archaisms and are hardly used. The emergence of the national movement of “Ata Zhol” (Ancestral path) and the appearance of mediums that transmit “bata” on behalf of a saint, indicates, in the authors’ opinion, a new stage of evolutionary processes in the Kazakh tradition of “bata beru”. The structure and content of the “bata” have undergone some modifications, which allows to identify this type of “bata” as the special – “Aulie bata”. Conclusion. All of this suggests a persistent existence of ancestor worship in modern Kazakh society.

Sievers’ Law and the Skåäng Stone

Early runic inscriptions are the best evidence for the oldest historical development of North Germanic. Yet among the many unexpected features of the inscriptions as they are usually presented is the apparent presence of vowels before glides that seem to occur contrary to Sievers’ Law. These include perhaps most prominently the sequence usually read as <harija> on the Skåäng stone where the Vimose comb preserves the expected form <harja>. Rather than assume that a Neogrammarian sound law is violated in a runic text, a more profitable approach is usually to assume that it is the interpretation that is at fault. Many of the instances where Sievers’ Law vocalizations seem to occur in an aberrant manner are texts that are better explained in manners other than have traditionally been accepted.

Common vocabulary of Turkish runic texts and Nogay Turkish

Türklere ait ilk yazılı belgeler, Eski Türkçe döneminde, Türk runik alfabesiyle çoğunluğu yazıt taşlara olmak üzere kayalara, sert cisimlere, çeşitli eşyalara ve kâğıtlara yazılmıştır. Günümüze kadar Eski Türk runik metinlerinin üzerine Türkologlar birçok farklı konuda çalışmalar yapmıştır. Bu konulardan biri de söz varlığı çalışmalarıdır. Zaman zaman Türk runik metinlerinin söz varlığı çağdaş Türk lehçeleri söz varlığıyla karşılaştırılmıştır. Çünkü Türk lehçeleri çalışmalarında temel dayanak olarak Eski Türkçenin araştırılmasının ve lehçeler ile ilişkisinin ortaya çıkarılmasının önemi büyüktür. Tarafımızca yapılan araştırmada temel konu olarak Türk runik metinleri söz varlığı ile Nogay Türkçesi söz varlığının karşılaştırıldığı bir çalışma tespit edilememiştir. Bu çalışmada, Türk runik metinlerinde var olan sözcükler ile çağdaş Nogay Türkçesi sözlüklerinde yaşamaya devam eden ortak sözcüklerin tespit edilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Çalışmada öncelikle eski Türk yazıtları söz varlığının çağdaş Türk lehçeleri söz varlığı ile karşılaştırıldığı çalışmalar belirtilmiştir. Daha sonra Nogay Türkçesinde yaşamaya devam eden Eski Türkçe sözcükler tespit edilmiştir. Bu sözcükler, “fonetik değişikliğe uğramış ve/veya morfolojik olarak farklı olan” ve “fonetik ve morfolojik olarak değişmeyen” sözcükler olmak üzere sınıflandırılmıştır. Sözcüklerin ortak olma durumunda bazı sözcüklere temkinli yaklaşılarak dipnotlarda, sözcüğün etimolojisiyle ilgili değerlendirmelere yer verilmiştir. Ayrıca morfolojik olarak farklı biçimde oluşmuş sözcükler üzerine açıklamalar yapılmıştır. Çalışmanın sonuç bölümünde ortak sözcükler üzerine istatistikî bilgiler, sözcüklerde gerçekleşen ses olayları ve semantik olarak değişmeler tespit edilmiştir.

Kurıkanların Türk Tarihindeki Yeri ve Önemi

The Kurykan people were seen for the first time in the mourning ceremony of the Turk kagan and were recorded in the Orkhun Inscriptions. They were one of the nomadic tribes spread on the west side of Baikal Lake and they were known as both enemy and friend. It is very interesting that runic texts of the Kurykan were found in Lena and Angara. The Kurykan people were recorded as Gulikan or Ku-li-kan by the Chinese which is one of primary sources for early Turkic history. They were identified as Furi or Kuri people from Islamic sources. Historical sources recorded that they were renowned for their beautiful horses. There are three main opinions about them: They are accepted as ancestors of the Yakut, Buriat, or Mongolian Khor tribe. In this article, we recognize them as ancestors of the Yakuts. They lived in Baikal and its surrounding area, practiced animal husbandry and were horse breeders. They were also good blacksmiths. They had an army of five thousand soldiers to show their strength and power. They created the Kurumchi Culture and left behind especially important cultural materials. These topics will be examined according to material cultural elements and their importance in Turkic history will be emphasized.

The Uybat Inscriptions: a Group of Old Turkic Runic Texts from the Yenisei Area

Bugün Tuva ve Hakasya cumhuriyetleri sınırları içerisinde (Sibirya bölgesinde) yer alan Türk Runik harfli yazıtlar XVII. yüzyılın sonlarından itibaren bilinmektedir. Bu yazıtların Yenisey yazıtları adıyla daha geniş çevrede tanınıp üzerinde araştırmalar yapılmaya başlanması XIX. yüzyılda mümkün olmuştur. Kağanlık yazıtlarından daha önce bulunup incelenmeye başlansa da Yenisey yazıtlarının araştırılması Kağanlık yazıtları kadar çok olamamıştır. Bunun nedeni muhtemelen yazıtların hiçbirinde tarih olmaması ve içerikleri bakımından Kağanlık yazıtlarına nazaran daha sivil karakterde olması gösterilebilir.

O‘rta Osiyo turk-run yodgorliklarida kelishik kategoriyasi

The studying of the case category in the Old Turkic language has a long history in linguistics. This category, which is important in the sentence structure of Turkic languages, is thoroughly examined in most grammars and monographs of a general character. Despite this, there are very few researches on the case paradigm of nominal declension. Studies on the language of one of the small and poorly studied groups of the corpus of runic texts – Central Asian findings are very few as well. None of the scientists have yet conducted special research on the case category in them, have not reconstructed their case system.This article is dedicated to filling this gap to some extent. It discusses about the case forms in Turkic runiform inscriptions from Central Asia. The attempt to reconstruct the case system of Turkic dialects spread in the region has been taken on the basis of the collected data.According to the taken results, there were six case forms in Turkic runiform inscriptions from Central Asia of VIII century. All of them are similar with the forms that were identified in other corpuses of documents in Old Turkic language – Orkhon and Yenisey texts.At the same time, some of case forms determined in Orkhon and Yenisey texts were not found in mentioned inscriptions. The article contains some versions of explanation for this situation.

The Intertextuality of the Kragehul Spear-shaft Inscription

AbstractThe inscription on a spear-shaft excavated from the Kragehul bog, just outside Flemløse, Denmark, in the late nineteenth century, is one of the most interpretatively problematic of all the early runic texts. Previous treatments of the inscription, however, have failed to consider the intertextuality and syntax of the text properly, and have often been distracted by idiosyncratic hypotheses peculiar to runic studies. The present paper addresses several of the shortcomings evident in the philological method applied in previous accounts in a historiographically critical analysis of the very difficult ancient moor find. Syntactic features such as anastrophe and left branch extraction can be discerned in the Kragehul spear-shaft inscription that seems to preserve a text that is intertextually paralleled by other contemporary Migration Age sources.

Early Gothic numismatic [h]rustis and γουνθ/ιου

Abstract The inscriptions on two late Roman Iron Age coins conserved in the Ossolineum in Wrocław appear to record an early Gothic noun and name respectively. One, an imitation of an aureus of Severus Alexander, bears a runic text that seems best to be taken as [h]rustis ›adornment‹. The other, an aureus of Postumus, appears to feature a name Gunþeis or Gutteis scratched into it recorded in Greek letters. Both of the coins feature holes bored in them, indicating that they were formerly worn as pendants, much like the later Migration Age bracteates.

The thirteenth-century runic revival in Denmark and Iceland

While in the High Middle Ages runic literacy appears to have been very much alive in urban centres such as Bergen, interest in runes appears to have been of a different nature in learned circles and in other parts of the Scandinavian world which had adopted widespread textual production of the Latin alphabet. This paper examines a number of runic phenomenon from the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries in Denmark and Iceland to argue that they belong to a cultural revival movement rather than forming part of a continuous runic tradition stretching back into the early Middle Ages. Some of these runic texts show some connection with the Danish royal court, and should rather be seen as forming part of the changes in literary culture emanating from continental Europe from the late twelfth century and onwards: they all show a combined interest in Latin learning and vernacular literary forms.

A Runic Inscription at Kalbak-Tash II, Central Altai, with Reference to the Location of the Az Tribe

The article introduces and interprets a new runic inscription found at the Kalbak-Tash II petroglyphic site in Central Altai. Whereas the adjacent petroglyphic site, Kalbak-Tash I, is the largest collection of Old Turkic runic texts in the Altai Republic and in Russia at large, Kalbak-Tash II has so far yielded only one such inscription, consisting of seven characters. Professor Marcel Erdal has suggested its transliteration, translation, and commentary. The proposed translation reads, “The Horse tribe. Hunters of the Az (tribe), open (the way)!” The inscription, evidently dating to the 8th century, marks boundaries of tribal grazing areas or those of small social units, in this case, the Az tribe, mentioned in runic texts from Mongolia and Tuva. Various viewpoints regarding their location, affi nities with neighboring tribes, origin, and later history are discussed. This new inscription confi rms the common idea that the so-called mountain or mountain-taiga Az people lived not only in western Tuva, but also in eastern and southern Altai, whereas the steppe Az lived alongside the Kyrgyz in the Khakass-Minusinsk Basin. The culture possibly associated with the Az is the Kudyrge culture in Altai. The Kalbak-Tash II inscription, short as it is, is a signifi cant addition to the well-known Orkhon runic texts addressing the history of the Turkic Kaganates.

Work Songs and Whetstones: From Sutton Hoo to Straum

The late Elmer Antonsen (1929-2008) was one of the few runic scholars ever to attempt to explain his interpretational method formally, and is most important (and influential) for the overtly neo-Bloomfieldian approach that he brought to his analyses of the older runic corpus. An expert in historical Germanic phonology, Antonsen had a manner of assessing early Nordic texts that may be epitomized in his treatment of the inscription on a whetstone from Straum i Hitra, Sor-Trondelag, Norway, which is usually referred to in the runological literature by the Bokmal spelling Strom. The Straum inscription can be dated only broadly to between the second and seventh centuries AD, and is one of the few early runic finds to which Antonsen devoted an entire paper (i.e., Antonsen 1975b; cf. Antonsen 1975a, no. 45; 1986, 335-6; 2002, 155-61). Antonsen interpreted the early runic text on the Straum whetstone, however, without considering the broader archaeological and epigraphic typology of the piece or the metaphorical association of whetstones with authority (later delineated by Stephen Mitchell in Scandinavian Studies in 1985). These suggest that the Straum inscription represents a martial expression, not the record of an agricultural work song that it has long been taken to be.

The Frøyhov inscription and early Germanic *ing-

Abstract The bronze figurine from Frøyhov bears a short and difficult early runic text which seems to represent some sort of name. First published in the late nineteenth century, the inscription may most regularly be interpreted as Inga(n)da, a form which features the early Germanic onomastic element *ing‑. Germanic *ingseems best to be etymologised as a reflex of IE *h2neḱ-/h2nenḱ- ‘reach, attain’ and the Frøyhov form taken either to be a maker’s inscription or a theonym, the figurine itself clearly representing a religious expression.

Places, Monuments, and Objects: The Past in Ancient Scandinavia

Memory clearly played an important role in ancient Scandinavian society, most evidently expressed in the approximately 2,300 rune stones raised from the mid-tenth century to the early twelfth century. All of these monuments were memorials over one or several dead persons, often commemorating their deeds and ways of death. The sponsors of the monuments and their relations with the dead are always mentioned in the runic texts, and sometimes relations with other persons are mentioned as well. Through the texts, the rune-stones created a memorial web of thousands of persons in the late Viking Age (Andren 2000; Sawyer 2000). Although rune stones have been studied for four hundred years, memory and the role of the past in the past have been seriously studied and discussed in Scandinavian and European archaeology only in the last three decades. It started in the 1980s, with a general critique of the archaeological focus on chronology (Chippendale 1983; Shanks and Tilley 1987; Burstrom 1989). Ever since archaeology was professionalized in the middle of the nineteenth century, chronology has been a central part of the discipline. In fact, the ordering of things in sequences was the very means by which the first archaeologists distinguished themselves from earlier antiquarians, who possessed little or no idea about how objects should be dated (Trigger 2006, 121-38). During the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, most objects became more or less securely dated. Besides, the mid-twentieth-century dating methods from natural sciences, such as carbon-14 dating and dendrochronology, have made the ordering of things less important in archaeology (Baudou 2004, 278-90). Still, the heritage of the discipline meant that the past was overwhelmingly presented in clearly delimited periods, comprising only places, monuments, and objects constructed in these periods. The new critique of the chronological mind of archaeology was based on an emerging awareness of the complex multi-temporal character of the past, partly inspired by scholars such as Henri Bergson, Paul Ricoeur, Pierre Nora, Jan Assmann, Walter Ong, and Paul Connerton. In surveys of ancient monuments, remains from all periods were mapped. The monuments were usually neatly presented in different periods, but since they exist today, they must also have existed in all preceding periods since their very construction (Chippendale 1983; Burstrom 1989). For instance, Avebury is one of Britain's famous henge monuments from the Neolithic (fig. 1); however, it is also a medieval parish, with its church placed just outside the ring of monolithic boulders, while at the same time a modern village is partly located within the Neolithic monument. Consequently, Avebury should not only be seen as a Neolithic henge monument but also understood as a monument from the past that existed and was re-used and re-interpreted through millennia (Pollard and Reynolds 2002). Although chronology is still important in archaeology, the awareness of the multi-temporal past has clearly challenged the mentality of the discipline. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Since the 1980s, the general archaeological debate on the multitemporal past has been broadened to many different aspects of how humans in the past related to their own past (Gosden 1994; Olivier 1999, 2011; Bradley 2002; Van Dyke and Alcock 2003; Williams 2006; Jones 2007). In this context, I only want to highlight a few aspects of this discussion. It is, in general, difficult to understand the intentions behind human actions in the past. Dealing with the past could have been a strategy for remembering, but also for re-inventing or forgetting. Memory in early cultures is usually regarded as being based on oral culture, but archaeologists have repeatedly emphasized the importance of material culture as a vehicle of memory. Oral culture was never only oral, since oral traditions were usually based on and interacting with the material world around humans, for instance, landscapes, monuments, settlements, and objects. …

Epigraphic Literacy and Christian Identity: Modes of Written Discourse in the Newly Christian European North by Kristel Zilmer and Judith Jesch, eds (review)

Reviewed by: Epigraphic Literacy and Christian Identity: Modes of Written Discourse in the Newly Christian European North by Kristel Zilmer and Judith Jesch, eds Roderick McDonald Zilmer, Kristel and Judith Jesch, eds, Epigraphic Literacy and Christian Identity: Modes of Written Discourse in the Newly Christian European North (Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy, 4), Turnhout, Brepols, 2012; hardback; pp. 279; 39 b/w illustrations, 15 b/w line art; R.R.P. €80.00; ISBN 9782503542942. Epigraphy, in the context of the Viking Age, offers interesting challenges to theories of literacy and its relationship with the spread of Christianity and associated modes of religious practice. This particular collection of essays is divided into two parts, bringing together two significantly divergent bodies of runic epigraphic writing – runic text inscribed in Scandinavian rune stones chiefly found in Sweden, with some Danish and Norwegian parallels, and that inscribed in rune staves (Old Norse rúnakefli) from Bryggen, in Bergen, Norway, and north-western Russian birchbark pieces – from the late tenth through to the first half of the thirteenth centuries. Part I brings together essays that broadly consider the role of epigraphic writing on Scandinavian rune stones – the marking of short statements that serve ostensibly to commemorate – as indicators of social, cultural, and religious values and practices during the early centuries of Christianization. The contexts which the various authors bring to this study include consideration of who carved these various stones, how to understand the meaning of ‘authorship’ in the case of known carvers, how the different content on stones (format/layout, text, decoration) can be interpreted, and the part that these stones might play in both the earthly and the spiritual economies. The first two essays deal with issues around the roles and identities of the commissioners and carvers of runestones. Magnus Kållström’s contribution considers what can be learnt from the evidence regarding the expansion of runic carvings, the relationship between runic and Latin literacy, the spread of literacy, and the extent to which it is possible to analyse the role of the carvers in terms of lay literacy, as compared with clerical or Christian book culture. Laila Kitzler Åhfeldt’s essay is the second that deals with carving technique and the implications for the spread of literacy and Christianity. Her analysis is based on high resolution scans used to differentiate the carvers engaged in the work, and she draws conclusions about certain named carvers, their social status, the processes by which stones were carved, and the possible connection of these runic expressions of Christianity with transitions from a pre-Christian to a Christian milieu. The remaining two papers in Part I both deliver textual analyses of runic material. Kristel Zilmer presents a structural analysis of the formulaic make [End Page 300] up of runic prayers, and concludes that rather than being at best a symbolic expression of an uncertain degree of Christian faith, the textuality of the prayers points to regional characteristics of different types of Christianity in place, such as the Kristr-prayers from Södermanland and Uppland indicating a likely early cult of Christ. Henrik Williams makes a sound case for the Old Norse expression ‘dauðr i hvitavaðum’, found more broadly in literary as well as runic sources, as an epigraphic indicator not necessarily of being baptized when dying, but marking a death that has occurred while the person is in the state of grace conferred by confirmation. Part II then considers a more diverse set of texts. Largely set in the frame of the pragmatics of instrumentalist communication, this part of the book moves on to discuss rune staves from Bryggen in Norway, birchbark pieces excavated in Western Russian sites such as Novgorod, and finishes with a consideration of graffiti in Novgorod churches. The textual material analysed in Part II is comprised largely of short, often pragmatic notes relating to commercial correspondence, used as writing practice, for charms, carrying simple practical directions, some containing intimate messages and even obscenities. Michael Schulte presents a linguistic analysis which reveals usage that is not formalized by adherence to literary standards, while Terje Spurkland looks at runic writing of Latin and Greek material derived from the Litany, and yet...

WEAVING WORDS LAW AND PERFORMANCE IN EARLY NORDIC TRADITION

The reference to malrunar or 'speech runes' in Sigrdrifumal suggests a performative aspect to the practice of early Germanic law that transcends the swearing of oaths and the reciting of law codes attested to by literary sources. Indeed early runic texts often feature alliteration, much as do the old Scandinavian legal tracts. This parallelism suggests that early Northern legal language was not stylised merely for mnemonic purposes, but instead reflects an oral-performative praxis similar to that which appears to be reflected in early Irish sources. But the relationship between performance and memorisation has not always been demarcated clearly in recent scholarship. Oralperformative theory is often called upon today without reference to explanations of social action. The privileging of generative performance over pre-literate memory culture seems to represent only an awkward victory of the medievalistic 'anthropological turn' over other key expressions of socio-cultural theory.