Läsordningen på Stentoftenstenen

Abstract

The commonly accepted reading order of the six lines of the Stentoften stone (DR 357) begins on the left and runs line by line towards the right (1-2-3-4-5-6). This reading order gives the inscription’s first clause an unexpected word order which is difficult to explain, with an indirect object followed by the subject, verb and finally a direct object. I suggest a new reading order beginning in a middle line (3-2-1-4-5-6), which instead allows the more common word order of subject, verb, followed by direct and indirect object. As well as argu­ments based on historical syntax, there are also visual and content-based reasons to read in the order 3-2-1. The visual analysis of how the carving on the Stentoften stone signals its reading order is based on the results of my earlier studies (Åker­ström 2020).