This name is based on a description found in the Prose Edda: However, knot of the slain is not the only possible interpretation of the valknut. Other instances of the valknut in Viking ornaments are Lärbro stone, River Nene ring and a bedpost found on the Oseberg ship. The unicursal type of valknut (which can be drawn with one stroke) appears on Tängelgarda stone: All the symbols around the valknut, which is in the central position here, point to death and to Odin as a god of slain warriors. The other sign of Odin’s presence is a warrior hanged on a tree to the left of the mound. The spear is probably Gungnir, Odin’s weapon. A dead warrior is put there by someone with a spear and accompanied by another raven. Below the valknut is probably a burial mound. Here above the valknut we see a raven, Odin’s symbol. Consider the Borromean triangles type, which occurs on the Stora Hammar rune stone.
One should keep that in mind when using the valknut in Viking tattoos or runic tattoos, since only the above two designs are genuine Viking valknuts. Note that other types of valknuts, such as closed three-link chain, never occur in the original Viking ornaments. The triangles may be joined in two ways: either as Borromean: Valknut is a Viking symbol of three interconnected triangles. The word valknut is a neologism: it is formed in modern times through combination of ON valr, ‘the dead’ or ‘the slain’ and knut, ‘knot’.
0 kommentar(er)
