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Nytt om runer Old English and Old Frisian Runic Inscriptions: Databank at Katholische Universität Eichstätt, Germany [1995]
"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft" has kindly agreed to fund half a research post, so that the proposed project for establishing a databank of Old English and Old Frisian runic inscriptions at the Katholische Universität Eichstätt in Eichstätt, Germany, was able to start on 1 June 1995. Due to the nature of this preliminary report as a call for help, it is being published in Nytt om runer 10 for 1995 (publ. 1996). The research project in Eichstätt is closely connected with Prof. Edith Marold's "Forschungsprojekt Runendatei" at the University of Kiel (see the presentation by Marold et al. in Nytt om runer 9 (1994), 33-35. We also work with a Macintosh and with the FoxPro software package. The results of both our projects will be available on CD-ROM. It is our aim to provide a databank for the Old English and Old Frisian runic inscriptions on a predominantly linguistic basis. Our databank consists of four complex files: "object", "interpretations", "linguistic data" and "bibliography". The file "object" provides background information on the object itself (material, place of find, present location, date, method of dating (archaeology, linguistics, history of art), etc.) and presents the transcribed inscription as well as details on the character of the inscription (pure runic, mixed text, cryptic runes, etc.). The various readings, translations, and interpretations (and their plausibility if necessary) can be found in the second file, "interpretations". The user has access to the individual words under the heading "linguistic data". The analysis includes phonology, morphology (word class, gender, case, number, tense, etc.), word-formation (simplex, compound, derivation, suffixes, etc.), semantics, etymology and dialect. Author, title, publication and the year of print will be found in the file "bibliography", which also contains information on additional material (pictures, drawings, maps) provided in the various articles. For detailed information on the structure of the individual files, see the figure "Projektstruktur" in the presentation by Marold et al. in Nytt om runer 9 (1994), 35. The individual fields of the four main files can be combined freely according to the user's own interests and needs. Thus it is possible, for example, to single out the corpus of the Old English runic crosses with all the information relevant for the user (e.g. date, present location, readings). Should the user be interested in a certain area (e.g. Northumbria), he can easily find every inscription from that area containing a personal name, for example. If his special field is a certain runic inscription, he will conveniently obtain all the readings and interpretations concerning, for example, the right side of Franks casket. The inscriptions themselves will be available in a photo file (black and white) attached to the four main files. Our present Old English corpus is mainly based on R. I. Page's An Introduction to English Runes (London 1973) and M. Mitchell's "Corpus of English Runes" (Basel 1994). However, establishing an up-to-date corpus of Old English (and Old Frisian) inscriptions has proved not only a demanding but also an extremely difficult task. Since it is impossible for us to gain access to the vast number of journals and periodicals of the shire archaeologies in search for new finds, we would be most grateful if any new finds could be reported to us directly. Our second aim is to produce a comprehensive critical edition on paper of the Old English runic inscriptions. There we will have the space to provide more complex information on readings, interpretations, language, background information on the object, etc. than will be included in the databank. The results of our research are also intended to contribute to the Old English Dictionary (1986- ) project of the University of Toronto. At present it is our main task to find and process every paper dealing with Old English and Old Frisian runes. Therefore we would be most grateful if scholars working in this field would send information and material directly to the address given below. Prof. Dr. Alfred Bammesberger and Dr. Gaby Waxenberger Go or return to the main page for Nytt om runer. |
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