Runes and Magic: Magical Formulaic Elements in the Older Runic TraditionFrom the beginnings of the scientific study of runes, questions concerning their magical nature have been raised. In this book Stephen Flowers puts this question in the context of current theories of magic for the first time. He approaches problems of runes and their connection to magical thinking from a structural standpoint based on linguistic models of communication. Certain formulas are isolated and analysed as to the possible ways in which they could be considered «magical» within the context of general conceptions of magic in archaic Germanic culture. Flowers'analysis of the runic evidence from the perspective of current theories of magic and the history of writing systems brings us a good measure closer to a comprehensive answer to the riddle of the runes. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Theoretical Problems | 13 |
Traditional Societies | 24 |
Copyright | |
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amulet Antonsen 1975a apotropaic appears archaic archeological Arntz attested auja Björketorp bow brooch bracteate brooch Bugge byname carved century common complex concept contains context cult cultic cultural dísir divine Düwel dynamistic Eggjum elder futhark elder runic elements ephesia grammata ephesion grammaton epigraphical erilaR evidence function fupark futhark Germanic Gørlev Gotland graphemes grave Háv Höfler ideographic Illerup indicate interpretation Krause lapu laukaR lexemes Lindholm amulet Lindqvist linguistic logographic lore magician Marstrander Marstrander 1952 masc medieval Moltke motive NGmc object ogham operative Opitz originally passim perhaps person PGmc possible probably reconstructed represent ritual rúnar rune poems rune-carver rune-master formula Runen runes runic corpus runic inscriptions runic tradition runological script seems seiðr SGmc Skåne social staves Stentoften stone symbolic syntactic Tacitus term theory tion typological verb Viking Age Vries Wodanaz word-formula younger futhark