The Hogganvik runestone is a fifth century runestone, bearing an Elder Futhark inscription, that was discovered in September 2009 by Arnfinn Henriksen, a resident of Hogganvik, in the Sånum-Lundevik area of Mandal, Vest-Agder, Norway, while working in the garden.
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The Hogganvik runestone is a stone slab of about 1.5 m squared, weighing approximately 800 kg. The runic inscription extends to some 60 characters, an exceptionally long text for a runic inscription of the early period, rivalling the longest inscription predating the seventh century known previously, that of the Tune stone (known since 1627).[1]
A preliminary report issued in October 2009 provided the following transliteration of the runic inscription, which was in Proto-Norse:
The report gave a preliminary translation of the text into English:
The farm is first mentioned in 1601 ("Hogenuig"), and the Norse form of the name was probably *Hǫggvandavík. The first element is the genitive of the substantive hǫggvandi m, derived from the verb hǫggva 'cut, hew, chop'. The last element is vík f 'cove, wick'. A neighbouring farm is called Lunde (Norse Lundr m 'grove'). The word/name lundr in Scandinavia is in many cases referring to a sacred grove. (Compare Lund in Rogaland and Lund in Scania, Sweden.)
