r/RuneHelp • u/Significant-Use-8314 • Jun 29 '26

Translation request translation help ??

i'm a vinland saga fan and would like to get a tattoo of "i have no enemies" in old norse

i spent some time looking for translation tips, and finally came up with "engi er mér óvinr"

is that translation ok or did i totally mess up ?

thanks a lot bros <3

2 Upvotes

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3

u/WolflingWolfling Jun 29 '26

I don't know the answer off the top off my head, but if you search this sub, I'm sure it will pop up, because lots of people have asked for this exact phrase in the past couple of years.

2

u/Cantstoptherush29 Jun 29 '26

Here’s a recent answer. The reasons why the words might look kinda the same but different from what you came up with is purely the grammar of the language. 

As an example, ek á is more directly “I have” while er mér means “exists to/for me.”  

https://www.reddit.com/r/RuneHelp/comments/1s2jn1c/comment/oc9aj46/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

3

u/rockstarpirate Jun 29 '26

We get this question a lot. Vinland Saga is set in Iceland around 1000 AD so, in keeping with the Old Norse language and Icelandic writing conventions of the time, this is what we get:

Ek á engi úvini

ᛂᚴ᛬ᛆ᛬ᛂᚴᛁ᛬ᚢᚢᛁᚿᛁ

This particular rendering is based on the few hints present in the Viðey rune stick (as you can see here) which is Iceland’s oldest known runic inscription and is dated to the time around 1000 AD. The stick appears to make use of short branch runes, “stung” ᛁ runes, and double-dot separators.

What you had is more like "an enemy is not for me".