Study › Runes & Norse › The Negau Helmet
The Negau helmet carries the earliest known inscription in a Germanic language, harigasti teiwai. Its letters are North Etruscan, not runes.
What is the Negau helmet?
The Negau Helmet carries the earliest known inscription in a Germanic language. Discovered near Negova (Negau), Slovenia, this bronze helmet belongs to a group of ceremonial helmets produced in the Iron Age. One helmet is inscribed harigasti teiwai — a Germanic name, Harigast, and a word for a god — but the letters are North Etruscan, not runes. The inscription is usually dated to around the 2nd or 1st century BCE, although its reading remains debated. It shows Germanic speakers writing their own language centuries before the Viking Age, borrowing an alphabet from their southern neighbours rather than using one of their own.
The god's word may be kin to Tyr's name; the first runes are in the Elder Futhark.
Questions
What does harigasti teiwai mean?
A Germanic name, Harigast, and a word for a god.
Is the Negau inscription in runes?
No, in North Etruscan letters.