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oa The runic inscription on the spearhead from Mos
- Source: NOWELE. North-Western European Language Evolution, Volume 78, Issue 2, Dec 2025, p. 216 - 220
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- 01 Dec 2024
- 17 Jul 2025
- 11 Dec 2025
Abstract
Abstract
The inscription sioag or gaois on the spearhead from Mos is usually understood as Gothic *Gaujis ‘the barker’. There are linguistic difficulties with that interpretation. One can also doubt whether ‘the barker’ really is a suitable name for a weapon. The author suggests that sioag/gaois is an anagram of agiso, corresponding to Old High German agiso ‘fear, terror’. The Gothic counterpart would be *agisa. Thus, there is reason to consider if the language of the inscription is Burgundian, Herulic or West Germanic. There are very few examples of anagrams in older runic inscriptions: lau, lua and aul for alu and Rahswia for haswiaR ‘the grey-haired’. The reason for obscuring *Agisō ‘the terrifying one’ through an anagram could be magical.