The name Rurik is not Scandinavian, as proven by the historian Lydia Groth.
Per Anders Johansen, a Norwegian journalist and correspondent for the Aftenposten newspaper in Moscow, published an article in which he named Prince Vladimir Waldemar. In the same place he writes that the ancestor of "Valdemar" "… was the Swedish Viking Rurik, who founded the royal dynasty, which was destined to rule Russia for 600 years."
This phrase is good because it knocks the ground out from under the feet of those who are fussing, nominating the so-called Rurik of Jutland for the role of the chronicle prince Rurik. A Norwegian journalist with full knowledge of their native history (in the Middle Ages the history of Denmark and Norway was closely intertwined) declares precisely about a certain “Swedish Viking Rurik”. And I understand why. Because the "version" of the great deeds of Rorik of Jutland in the Russian lands is not accepted by Danish medievalists. Elsie Roesdal, a leading specialist in the history of Denmark of the so-called Viking period, in her classic work, so bluntly stated (apparently tired of her with such questions): “Hardly a Danish leader, who was also called Rurik and who was operating in Friesland at the same time, when the chronicler Rurik acted, he was one and the same person. "And the Danes would gladly “capitalize” such a major politician in favor of Danish history, if there was even the slightest chance for this! But Danish medievalists know both the language and the historical material of Denmark's past, unlike Russian dreamers on Scandinavian themes, so none of these historians wants to compromise themselves by supporting a historically dubious version.
Now about the name Rurik, since all their Scandinavian mania is based on the etymologies of the annalistic names among the Normanists. I study in detail the origin of the name Rurik and its history in the book "The names of the chronicle princes and the roots of the ancient Russian institute of princely power", so here I will give only a brief description of it.
The name Rurik is not Scandinavian. It has been recorded since ancient times, specifically, from the last years BC. throughout Europe - from the Eastern European limits to the British Isles - with the exception of the Scandinavian countries. In the Scandinavian countries the name Rurik comes to light several centuries later than on the European continent. Moreover, this name was not included in any of the Scandinavian dynastic names, unlike continental Europe or the British Isles.
In Sweden, the name Rurik is recorded in several rune inscriptions dated no earlier than the 11th century. But in the rune inscriptions there are also foreign names, such as, for example, Varin or Rugin, which clearly belonged to aliens from the Southern Baltic. The name Rurik is borne by representatives of some noble Swedish families not earlier than the middle of the 13th century, but this name never left the framework of narrow-family name-books. Moreover, these families had a connection with the southern Baltic noble families, from where these names, possibly, came through marriage. In ordinary Danish nomenclatures, the name Rurik begins to be found no earlier than the 13th century, which indicates its borrowing. The name of the so-called Rörik of Jutland flashed and did not leave a trace, starting to be actively borrowed already in the late Middle Ages.
Thus, in the real life of Danish, Norwegian-Icelandic and Swedish societies, the name Rurik / Rörik appears very late, from the 11th-12th centuries. or from the XIII century. and is more the exception than the rule in naming. And it was not included in the Swedish nouns at all. What does this mean? This suggests that Rurik / Rörik was a name alien to Swedish society, whose carriers had no blood connection with the history of the Swedish people.
As an additional argument, I will cite Swedish rune inscriptions, where the name Rurik is present. It is well known that on the runestones with particular zeal were fixed faces, glorified by campaigns to distant countries. The information given by me is collected in the catalog of runic personal names and in the set of runic inscriptions "Sveriges runinskrifter". Here is a list of all the bearers of the name Rurik recorded on runestones in Sweden. All of them are not earlier than XI.
Promotional video:
Ög 153, dating to the 11th century.
Translation: "Rurik erected this stone in memory of Frode and Asbjörn, their sons."
Sö 159, dated 1010-1040.
Translation into Russian: “Ingyald and Alver installed this stone in memory of their father Thorbjorn. He spent a long time in the west. Rorik, Gudmund, Boo and Gunnlev carved the runes."
Sö 47, dating - Christian period.
Translation: “Rurik erected this monument to his son Asmund. He is buried in Gotland."
The rune inscription on this stone was commented on in an article by Mats Buström, where, in particular, it was noted that the text side of the stone had no decorations, and a cross was carved on the reverse side. Buström gave a different version of the translation: “Rörek erected this memorial sign for his son Asmund. He is buried in the church. " In this article, it does not matter which version of the translation is more accurate: "in the church" or "in Gotland." But different versions of the translation demonstrate that the interpretation of the rune inscription is a reconstruction of half-erased signs, when guesswork makes up the majority of the translation.
It is assumed that the name Rurik appears twice in this rune inscription. But for the first name, only two initial and one final letters ry… r are preserved. Therefore, the first name Rurik was guessed from the second, written in the genitive case. But the name Rurik repeated twice gives the phrase a somewhat strange character. Therefore, it is quite possible that the first name was not Rurik, but for example, Ruar (this name is also found on the runestones), and then the phrase turns out to be the following: “Ruar erected this memorial sign for Asmund, the son of Rurik. He is buried ….
U 41, dating - not earlier than the end of the 11th century.
Translation: "Ulv ordered to erect this monument to his son Yorund, and Bjorn and Rurik to their brother."
U 934, dated: approximately 11th century
Translation: Tore and Rorik (?) And Karl, these brothers …
Here you should pay attention to the fact that the name is written in runes like Ryþikr. The Swedish researchers naturally speculated what this meant. There have been speculations that the name Ryðingr or RøðingR could be hidden behind such a spelling, but it turned out that these names did not occur in Swedish rune inscriptions. Only in documents from 1293 was the name Røthingr mentioned several times. Therefore, by "majority vote" they decided to read the name in the inscription as Rörik, but with a question mark. The reasoning is clearly weak, since a stone with a fragment of the inscription was found embedded in a stone church fence, respectively, the inscription could have been made quite late, so it is not necessary to verify the name in this inscription with other runic names. But for those who deciphered this inscription (and this part of the rune heritage was published in the 40s of the last century),I really wanted to record as many Swedish Ruriks as possible, albeit of a late period.
So, if we exclude the name Ryþikr from the inscription U 934, because it was assigned to the list of Ruriks clearly to reinforce the flimsy ranks of the bearers of this name in Swedish history, then we get only four pieces scattered here and there throughout the 11th-12th centuries.
And where is the runestone that glorifies the Swedish Viking Rurik, who founded the "royal dynasty that was destined to rule Russia for 600 years"? It could not exist for the simple reason that the fake story of the "Swedish Viking Rurik" began to be created by Swedish politicians only from the beginning of the 17th century.
Lydia Groth
