The Horda Rune Stone

While traveling trough the Swedish province of Småland i made a quick stop to visit this rune stone in Rydaholm near Värnamo.

The Horda rune stone or SM59 as it is also known is easily accessible by car. It is located just next to the road in the garden of a private residence. This made my visit rather short as I didn’t want to intrude.

The stone is made out of granite and measures around 1 x 1 meters in height and width. It’s not thicker than 15 centimeters.

Before 1954 the stone was located about 22 meters away as a part of a stone wall that was built east of the road. It was moved to its current location as the road got moved.

The stone was according to some reports in the 1690 originally part of a stone bridge in Horda.

The Horda rune stone was rediscovered in the 1847 in heavily damaged condition, part of the inscription is missing. The remaining runes that are the younger futhark reads:

: sekmutr : kearþ… … …ulf : buruþur : sin

Sigmund made … -ulf/…(or Ulf), his brother.

The name Sigmund is quite unusual and it is not known from any other rune stones in Småland.

The missing part of the inscription is probably kuml Þasi eftiR (this memorial in memory of)

So it would most likely have read:

: sekmutr : kearþ : kuml : Þasi : eftiR : ulf : buruþur : sin

Sigmund made this memorial in memory of -ulf/…(or Ulf), his brother.

The rune stone was made in the 11th century.