Johan Bureus’s manuscript F a 14 in the Royal Library of Stockholm contains a formerly overlooked reading of the lost rune-stone from Småland Sm 140† which allows the inscription to be reconstructed as follows (the names in the Eng­lish translation rendered by what would be modern Swedish equivalents): [: eun:iutr : raisþi ... ...asa : eftiʀ suain : faþ... ...], Øyniutr/Æiniutr ræisþi [stæina þ]essa (?) æftiʀ Svæin, fað[ur] … , “Önjut/Enjut raised these stones (?) in memory of Sven, his father … .” Bureus’s drawing of the inscription incor­po­rates five additional runes, allowing us to read the verb raisþi in a form found in only nine other inscriptions from Småland. In addition, the reading þessa sug­gests the possibility of the stone being part of a monument involving two or more stones. The original location may indicate that it stood by a bridge, although this is less certain.

I denna vänskrift firas Maria Lindgren, språkvetare vid Linnéuniversitetet, med en uppsättning artiklar som på olika sätt anknyter till hennes forskningsintressen, såsom didaktiska frågor, offentlig kommunikation, försvunna runstenar och textpraktiker.

To comprehend better the meaning of a runic monument as a complex phenomenon it is necessary to have knowledge of its original location in relation to the surrounding environment. Our knowledge of such initial locations varies. Some runestones still stand in the place where they were first erected. In other cases, the first placement is well documented even if the runestone has been moved or indeed lost; sometimes, however, the documentation indicates only a general placement. In several instances the original location is wholly unknown.

There are eighty-two known runic monuments from the late Viking Age in an area called Tiohärad in southern Sweden. For twenty-nine of these only a secondary location, mostly in or near a church, is known. Some mention bridges and eleven are known to have been located near a passage of water (which presumably also indicates the presence of a road). At least sixteen more are found near a later road, and two of these mention a crossroad. Thirteen seem to have been found near farms or villages. In many cases, the monuments could have marked ancient boundaries. Of particular interest in these instances are the examples located at boundaries that not only border two farms, but also larger administrative areas. Of the fifty-two monuments with a known location, only eighteen have any connection to grave-fields.

The location of runestones depends probably on the organisation of Late Viking Age society and its ideas about status and power. It is possible that there is a great deal of continuity in this organisation from Viking Age to the Middle Ages. To understand the location it is necessary to reconstruct the topography of the Late Viking Age landscape, its settlement areas and its specific features. The combination of this reconstruction and the information given in the inscriptions will certainly make it possible to understand the mentality and social structure of Late Viking Age society.