The Runes - a Mystery Solved

Trig point at summit of Beinn Bhreac

The solution to the rune mystery is deeply moving, and the Diary is very grateful to the runes' writer for contacting us after seeing the original blog, here, and agreeing to share what turns out to be a very personal story.  He writes,

"My father died in March 1986. That summer I made four or five trips up to Beinn Bhreac, armed with bolster, hammer and file. I chose a rock face tucked down below the cairn just so that it wouldn’t be immediately noticeable to walkers. I composed the inscription in Icelandic, also so that it would mean nothing to the average passer by.

Himinn og æfilegur steinn

haldi rúna þessa sem reist Dominic
í minningum föður hans Martins
traustur vinur og manna beztur
Kristur og Santa Maria hjálpi sál hans 

And then, to further obfuscate things, I set the whole text in runes, using Einar Haugen’s learned tome 'The Scandinavian Languages' as a guide. The Greek sigma appears to have been an S in a later development of the futhark.  For anyone who wishes to see the full set of characters, they're here.

The English translation is as follows:

May the heavens and eternal stone
protect these runes which Dominic cut
in memory of his father Martin
a loyal friend and the best of men
May Christ and St Mary help his soul."

The writer is the author Dominic Cooper, who lives on Ardnamurchan's beautiful north coast.  One of his book, Men at Axlir, is set in Iceland, and another is Dead of Winter.  Dominic's 'day job' is as a watch and clock maker and repairer. He can be contacted here.