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Category: Archaeology
Runologist James E. Knirk has published a report on the recently found Hogganvik rune stone. His transliteration is[?]kelbaþewas:s(t)^ainaR:aaasrpkf aarpaa:inanana(l/b/w)oR eknaudigastiR ekerafaRHis translation isSkelba-þewaR's ["Shaking-servant's"] stone. (Alphabet magic: aaasrpkf aarpaa). ?Within/From within the ?wheel-nave/?cabin-corner. I NaudigastiR [="Need-guest"]. I, the Wolverine.So...
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 10 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Inscriptions in the early 24-character futhark are rare. And when you find them, their messages are usually not straight-forward.
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Posted by Martin R at 9:56 AM • 11 Comments •
Category: Music
Some of the most intensely loved musical styles have names that mean "copulation music".
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: Language
Here are two pieces of convoluted Scandy and English etymology that converge in my head.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:21 AM • 7 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Current Archaeology's July issue offers a lot of good reading, of which I particularly like the stories on human origins (see below) and garden archaeology at Kenilworth Castle.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:21 AM • 7 Comments •
Category: Humour
A lesson in Swedish from the mall at Sickla. Last = noun from the verb lasta, "to load". In = in Fart = noun from the verb fara, "to travel", cf. "wayfarer" and "fare thee well". Load-in-travel. Delivery entrance....
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Posted by Martin R at 8:27 AM • 13 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
Anglophones find it really funny that one of Sweden's oldest towns is named Sick Tuna.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:28 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Language
Essentially, they're the same guy: a storm god called "the Lord".
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 23 Comments •
Category: Language
In Chinese, polite figures of speech mark a distance.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 65 Comments •
Category: Language
Hear ye, Americans! When you put that gratuitous "of" there, you sound like demented hillbillies!
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 38 Comments •
Category: Humour
Conversing with a friend recently, I mused, what could be the background to the expression "batshit insane"? My friend suggested that it might have something to do with having bats in the belfry. I then wondered what the Swedish equivalent...
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 30 Comments •
Category: Humour
So you're the principal of an English-language high school in Stockholm, Sweden. And you decide to put some serious money into an advertising campaign in the city's subway. Now, you want to express what we in Sweden call att...
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Posted by Martin R at 12:49 PM • 28 Comments •
Category: Language
Two farmsteads in a parish can't have the same name, because that would lead to confusion.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 9 Comments •
Category: Humour
I take a childish pleasure from the fact that Shanghai International Airport is named Poo Dong -- snigger, snigger. Now, reading about tea, I find my scatological spot tickled further by the Poobong Tea Company in Calcutta. Poo bong. Stick...
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Posted by Martin R at 4:39 AM • 3 Comments •
Category: Biology
It is an adjective ending in an S, just like erectus, afarensis and neanderthalensis.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 26 Comments •
Category: Language
Swedish has many subtleties to keep furriners from learning the language of glory and heroes.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 33 Comments •
Category: Language
Noreen Malone at Slate explains why Georgia and Georgia are both named Georgia. Basically it's:George means "ploughman" in ancient Greek Saint George dies in AD 303 Part of Central Asia (Georgia) becomes associated with the saint for unknown reasons Crusaders...
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: Humour
Looking closer at this cover of a Chinese pirate edition of Disney's 1937 animated feature Snow White, we find a couple of fine Engrish phrases. "Latinum Edition" is pretty good. But wouldn't you agree that "Still the Fairest of...
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Posted by Martin R at 12:45 PM • 8 Comments •
Category: History
The names that dot the landscape once meant something about those places.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 9 Comments •
Category: Humour
I've posted a fine example of Ansiktsburk song lyrics before: listen to a song in a language you don't understand, and try to imagine that it is actually sung in your own language though with a funny accent. Then...
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Children
"People will breathe using space suits, and at home they will have air inside their houses."
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 13 Comments •
Category: Language
A dialect is split into sociolects, that have to do with social class.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:20 AM • 35 Comments •
Category: Blogging
I've twiddled some knobs behind the scenes.
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Posted by Martin R at 5:22 PM • 22 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
I'm a big fan of Danish archaeology. In my opinion it is the best in Scandinavia, both regarding the sites they have and what they write about them. This love of Danish archaeology has been a strong incentive for...
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Posted by Martin R at 3:15 AM • 18 Comments •
Category: Archaeology
I disagree with Razib's interpretation of some interesting genetic studies over at Gene Expression.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 84 Comments •
Category: Humour
Scandy readers will be very familiar with this. As we learned from "Hatten Är Din", "Ansiktsburk", "Fiskpinnar" and other Turk Hits back in 2000, you can get wonderfully absurd results if you listen to a song in a foreign language...
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Posted by Martin R at 3:44 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: Language
Does Al-Qaeda have its own star in the sky?
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Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 15 Comments •
Category: Humour
It says here that the hero is wearing a piece of cod!
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Posted by Martin R at 1:46 PM • 10 Comments •
Category: Language
Don't even get me started on how bad native English speakers are at faking King James Bible grammar.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 34 Comments •
Category: Books
At Haga, the butterfly can be seen making its green home...
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Posted by Martin R at 3:14 PM • 6 Comments •
Category: Language
Almost all Swedish words for civilised matters have recently been borrowed from Continental languages.
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Posted by Martin R at 3:18 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Language
What you need to do is look at words like Pteranodon, Diptera and "helix".
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Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Language
The naming of Swedish places has long been regulated by the authorities.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 3 Comments •
Category: History
The elite talked about meat in French at the dinner table.
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Posted by Martin R at 8:50 AM • 28 Comments •
Category: Language
It's actually quite heartwarmingly naïve in its complete lack of political correctness.
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Posted by Martin R at 9:05 AM • 25 Comments •
Category: Biology
Something that forms the basic element of a snake-like thing, maybe?
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Posted by Martin R at 9:05 AM • 4 Comments •
Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
