Inscription
The buckle bears a runic inscription on its front, incised after its manufacture:
- aigil andi aïlrun
- ltahu (or elahu) gasokun
Linguistic analysis of the inscription reveals that it was composed in early Old High German and is thus considered the oldest preserved line of alliterative verse in any West Germanic language (while the Golden horns of Gallehus inscription, roughly one century older, is considered the oldest example of a North Germanic metrical line). However, scholars have yet to reach a consensus as to its exact import.
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Famous quotes containing the word inscription:
“In the graveyard, which was crowded with graves, and overrun with weeds, I noticed an inscription in Indian, painted on a wooden grave-board. There was a large wooden cross on the island.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The oft-repeated Roman story is written in still legible characters in every quarter of the Old World, and but today, perchance, a new coin is dug up whose inscription repeats and confirms their fame. Some “Judæa Capta,” with a woman mourning under a palm tree, with silent argument and demonstration confirms the pages of history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Gratefully accepting the proffered honor, [to inscribe a new legal work to him] I give the leave, begging only that the inscription may be in modest terms, not representing me as a man of great learning, or a very extraordinary one in any respect.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)