Thorsberg chape
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The Thorsberg chape (a metal piece belonging to a scabbard found in the Thorsberg moor) bears an Elder Futhark inscription, one of the earliest known altogether, dating to roughly AD 200.
- owlþuþewaz / niwajmariz
The first element owlþu, for wolþu-, means "glory", "glorious one", Old Norse Ullr, Old English wuldor. The second element, -þewaz, means "slave, servant". The whole compound is a personal name or title, "servant of the glorious one", "servant/priest of Ullr". On the reverse, ni- is the negative particle, waj- corresponds to "woe, ill" (Old Norse vei). The final element is -mariz "famous" (Old English maēre), the second word thus translates to "not ill-famous", viz. "famous, renowned" or "not of ill fame, not dishonoured". The translation of the inscription is thus either "Wolthuthewaz is well-renowned", or "the servant of Ullr, the renowned".
Another reading, avoiding the emendation of the first element, reads the first letter ideographically, "Odal", resulting in o[þalan] w[u]lþuþewaz / niwajmariz "inherited property of Wulthuthewaz, the renowned".
