Transliteration
Like other Scandinavian manifestations of Medieval runes, the runic alphabet of the Codex Runicus contains a sign for each phoneme of the language. A dotted variant had been introduced in order to separate voiceless k from the corresponding voiced consonant g. New runes introduced for the vowel sounds also appear in the codex.
The text on leaf 27r, from the first rubric (line 3), reads:
- Særær man annær man mæþæn kunung ær innæn lændæs bøtæ fore sar sum loh æræ :ok kunungi firitiuhu mark ok hinum ær sar fik firitiuhu mark fore friþbrut."
- (If a man wounds another man while the king is in the province he shall pay a fine for the wound in accordance with the law, and 40 marks to the king and 40 marks for breach of the peace to the one who was wounded.)
The verse with the musical notations is the first two lines of the folk song Drømde mig en drøm i nat (I dreamt a dream last night), about a girl who dreams of becoming a rich woman. The melody is one that is well known to all Danes, having been used as an interval signal on Danish radio since 1931.
The section with the verse and musical notations are on the last leaf and reads:
- Drømde mik en drøm i nat (I dreamt a dream last night),
- um silki ok ærlik pæl (of silk and fine fur / of justice and fair play).
The Codex Runicus has the shelfmark AM 28 8vo and is part of the Arnamagnæan Collection at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
Read more about this topic: Codex Runicus