From Formula to Phantom: How Mis-Segmentation Created "Oligamus Stella, dux" and What Runic Inscriptions Reveal About Meaning Stability

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1. Verfasser: ESTILL, DOUGLAS
Format: Recurso digital
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Zenodo 2026
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author ESTILL, DOUGLAS
author_facet ESTILL, DOUGLAS
contents <p>This article examines the mechanisms by which meaning is preserved and constrained in Viking<br>Age runic inscriptions and contrasts this stability with interpretive vulnerabilities in certain<br>medieval Latin textual traditions. Drawing on a geographically controlled corpus of runestones<br>from Uppland—particularly the Vallentuna–Sigtuna–Orkesta region, including a concentrated<br>micro-corpus at Vallentuna Church—the study demonstrates that runic inscriptions maintain<br>semantic stability through visible structural segmentation, repeated formulaic clauses, explicit<br>relational markers, and network redundancy across inscriptions. By contrast, the phrase<br>traditionally interpreted as “Oligamus Stella, dux” is demonstrated to be a product of missegmentation within a structurally ambiguous Latin textual environment rather than evidence for<br>a historical individual. The article proposes a comparative model in which semantic visibility and<br>redundancy act as stabilizing forces in inscriptional systems, while their absence in manuscript<br>traditions creates conditions under which segmentation errors can generate persistent phantom<br>identities within the historical record. From Formula to Phantom: Structural Visibility, Network<br>Redundancy, and the Mis- Segmentation of “Oligamus Stella, dux” .</p>
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id zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_19838378
institution Zenodo
language eng
publishDate 2026
publisher Zenodo
record_format zenodo
spellingShingle From Formula to Phantom: How Mis-Segmentation Created "Oligamus Stella, dux" and What Runic Inscriptions Reveal About Meaning Stability
ESTILL, DOUGLAS
History, Medieval
Literature, Medieval/history
Runic Stones
Oligamus Stella
<p>This article examines the mechanisms by which meaning is preserved and constrained in Viking<br>Age runic inscriptions and contrasts this stability with interpretive vulnerabilities in certain<br>medieval Latin textual traditions. Drawing on a geographically controlled corpus of runestones<br>from Uppland—particularly the Vallentuna–Sigtuna–Orkesta region, including a concentrated<br>micro-corpus at Vallentuna Church—the study demonstrates that runic inscriptions maintain<br>semantic stability through visible structural segmentation, repeated formulaic clauses, explicit<br>relational markers, and network redundancy across inscriptions. By contrast, the phrase<br>traditionally interpreted as “Oligamus Stella, dux” is demonstrated to be a product of missegmentation within a structurally ambiguous Latin textual environment rather than evidence for<br>a historical individual. The article proposes a comparative model in which semantic visibility and<br>redundancy act as stabilizing forces in inscriptional systems, while their absence in manuscript<br>traditions creates conditions under which segmentation errors can generate persistent phantom<br>identities within the historical record. From Formula to Phantom: Structural Visibility, Network<br>Redundancy, and the Mis- Segmentation of “Oligamus Stella, dux” .</p>
title From Formula to Phantom: How Mis-Segmentation Created "Oligamus Stella, dux" and What Runic Inscriptions Reveal About Meaning Stability
topic History, Medieval
Literature, Medieval/history
Runic Stones
Oligamus Stella
url https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19838378