The personal names on the Loveden Hill urn and the Watchfield case fitting

Abstract

This paper deals with graphophonematic and onomastic problems arising from two early English runic inscriptions. Since Pre-OE /ā̆/ and /ɔ̄̆/ were apparently graphemicized as ᚪ a2 and ᚩ a3 at (about) the same time during the late fifth century, it is possible to identify rune no. 6  on the Loveden Hill urn as a variant of theāc-rune ᚪ,  (~ ). Thus, the initial runic sequence there, sïþa1ba2d, renders a correctly shaped male name Pre-OESīþæbad(= WFranc./Hispano-Goth.Sendebadus). The Watchfield case fitting is at least 50 years younger, and the first part of its inscription, ha1riboki, may have undergone sub-phonemic umlaut (/hæribōki/ phonetically [ˈhærɪˌboːcɪ] or [ˈhεrɪˌbøːcɪ]?). The second sequence, wusa1, represents a female nickname Pre-OEWusæ‘that one who bustles about’, a name which has an exact male counterpart in Langob.Vuso.