The Bergakker inscription is an Elder Futhark inscription discovered on the scabbard of a 5th-century sword. It was found in 1996 in the Dutch town of Bergakker, in the Betuwe, a region once inhabited by the Batavi. There is consensus that the find dates from the period 425-475 and that the inscription is either the singular direct attestation of Frankish (Franconian), or the earliest attestation of Old Dutch (Old Low Franconian).

Inscription

Runic writing at the time was used along the North Sea coast, in Frisia, but there are very few other extant inscriptions from Francia. The inscription can be read as where V is a non-standard rune, apparently a vowel (variously read as e or u, or as "any vowel"), and ***** represents an unknown rune. Several readings have been presented in literature. There seems to be a consensus that the ann is the past tense of unnan, corresponding to Modern Dutch gunnen, which means "give/bestow/grant". Several authors read the first word as a personal name in the genitive (indicating property), and the last word as meaning "flame, brand", a kenning for swords. The third word is read either as kusjam, meaning "chooser" or "chosen", corresponding to Modern Dutch keuze, or as ke(i)sjam meaning "cut" or "cutter", also referring to swords or sword wielders.

Scholarly interpretations

Sources