Erilaz
Erilaz is a Migration period Proto-Norse word attested on various Elder Futhark inscriptions, often interpreted to mean "magician" or "rune master", viz. one who is capable of writing runes to magical effect. The word is linguistically related to this of the name of the tribe of the Heruli and as Mees (2003) has shown, both are ablaut variants of earl.
- The Lindholm amulet is a bone piece found in Skåne, dated to the 2nd to 4th centuries:
- ekerilazsawilagazhateka:aaaaaaaazzznnn?bmuttt:alu:
- read as
- ek erilaz sawilagaz hateka; "aaaaaaaazzznnn?bmuttt" alu.
- Translated as "I, the Erilaz, am called Sawilagaz; ... charm". Sawilagaz means "the one of the Sun (Sowilo)". Alu is a word for spell or charm, in this case the sequence aaaaaaaazzznnn?bmuttt. This sequence has been interpreted as a magical formula: the three consecutive t runes as an invocation of Tyr, and the eight As runes as an invocation or symbolic list of eight Æsir.
- The Kragehul I spear-shaft found in Funen
- ekerilazasugisalasmuhahaitegagagaginuga [....]
- ek erilaz asugisalas muha haite, gagaga gin[n]u ga
- Interpreted as "I, Asugisalaz am called Muha" followed by some sort of battle cry or chant "ga-ga-ga, many times ga". Asugisalaz contains ansu- "god" and gisala- "sprout, offspring". Muha may either be a personal name, or a word meaning "retainer" or similar. The runes of gagaga are displayed as a row of three bindrunes based on the X-shape of the g rune with sidetwigs attached to its extremities for the a. A similar sequence gïgogï is found on the Undley bracteate.
- Bracteates Eskatorp-F and Väsby-F have e[k]erilaz
- Bratsberg clasp: ekerilaz
- Veblingsnes:ekerilaz
- Rosseland: ekwagigazerilaz
- Järsberg: ekerilaz
- By: ekirilaz
- the Etelheim clasp has mkmrlawrta read as ek erla wrta "I, Erla, wrote this".
References
Mees, B. 2003. Runic erilaR, North-Western European Language Evolution (NOWELE), 42:41-68.