"Decoding gerûni: runic sacramenta in the Old Saxon Heliand" (original) (raw)

This chapter argues for the benefits of comparative linguistic analysis between Old English and Old Saxon, on the basis that the two languages derive from Proto-Germanic, and considering the influence of Anglo-Saxon missionaries in the conversion of early medieval Saxony to Frankish Christianity. I will argue against conventional translations of the Old Saxon geruni as a synonym for the related Old Saxon runa meaning "mystery" or "secret." Rather, I will suggest geruni in the Heliand constitutes something more explicitly spiritual. Based on the lexicographical evidence offered by Latin glosses of the Old English geryne, this chapter will reinterpret the semantics of the Old Saxon geruni, and consider how the narrative contexts, in which the word appears in the Heliand, suggests an affinity between these cognates.