Why Oera Linda book can't be a forgery

[Nordic]

One way to study the Oera Linda (OL) authenticity issue is to see if its narrative choices are known elsewhere only from sources that were found or known later than Oera Linda manuscript (MS) is known to have existed. This study method bypasses the counterargument that learned mid-1800s Dutchmen could have utilized Frisian folklore, Norse sagas and other similar sources to make up the OL narrative.

As chronology baseline we use the information that OL MS existed already in year 1845. The source for this is Jacob Munnik's later testimony that he had back in 1845 attempted to gain access to the manuscript:

Jacob Munnik (husband of Cornelis' stepdaughter: Plate 1) reported in 1876 that he had joined Cornelis in an earlier failed attempt to obtain the MS in 1845.(2) This suggests that Cornelis did know about the manuscript earlier, and actively had tried to obtain it. [...] (2) Beckering Vinckers, J., Wie heeft het Oera-Linda-Boek geschreven (1876) pp. 31-32.
[Source: Jan Ott's blogpost Did Cornelis Over de Linden hide something?]

As there are no known reasons why Munnik would theoretically later lie about the date, it can be considered evidence that the MS existed already in year 1845 and likely already before that date. What is uncontested by all viewpoints is that the MS existed by latest in 1860s. Copies of the MS can be seen online at Internet Archive site on Oera Linda.

Four sources exist that fulfill the conditions that they were a. found later than OL MS already existed and b. contain details attested elsewhere only in OL. All four are available as modern English language translations. They are:

• Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles 19 Weidner Chronicle (ABC19), Iraq

• Sumerian King List (SKL), Iraq

• Story of Wenamun, Egypt

• Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot VII1 679 (SKVR VII1 679), Finland.

It's known to OL researchers that Finns and Wodin episodes are echoed in Norse sagas that depict the Finnish conquest of Scandinavia (Frá Fornjóti) and Odin's battles in Sweden (Ynglingasaga). A key pattern recognition is that the first two above listed sources (ABC19, SKL) refer to the same European narratives by using two following linguistic substitutions:

• Finn ↔ Su, Shu, Suen, Cu, Cuc or Sus (Suomi, Suomen, suomalainen, tsuudi, Chud, Chude all mean 'Finn')

• Wodin, Odin ↔ Utu.

The latter two listed sources (Story of Wenamun, SKVR VII1 679) contain narrative details only found elsewhere from OL.

This is textual evidence that OL narrative can't be a mid-1800s Dutch forgery, but the narrative is instead genuinely old work (regardless of the age of the MS paper). Way to falsify this finding is to show how theoretical mid-1800s Dutch forgers could have accessed the same information needed to produce the accurate parallels. Following posts detail the similarities between each of the four sources and OL.

[Nordic]

Source 1 ABC19 Weidner Chronicle

Source: English translation.

Relevant portions: lines 53-63, especially lines 56-57 "The Gutians were unhappy people unaware how to revere the gods, ignorant of the right cultic practices".

Corresponding OL MS portions: 050-056, especially 052 ”The Finns are constantly in fear because of this, and their faces never show signs of joy”.

Dating: earliest published translation in 1975 (130 years after OL MS).

Explanation: the parallels between the two texts are:

• two Gutian attacks ↔ two Finnish attacks

• Gutian sadness ↔ Finnish sadness (the most unique parallel)

• haughty Utu-hegal ↔ haughty Wodin

• Ur-Nammu and Shulgi ↔ Wodin’s son by Finnish magus’s daughter

• Utu-hegal's body disappears ↔ Wodin disappears.

The best overall fit to OL Finnish magus is sage and judge Väinämöinen of Finland. This suggests the names Ur-Nammu ↔ Väinämöinen and Shulgi ↔ Suomi ('Finland'). The closest Finnish character depicted in the Norse sagas that had similar war against Odin was the Sweden-Finnish king Gylfa of same Finnish Fornjót lineage (for Fornjót ↔ Iku-Turilas the father of Väinämöinen of Finnish traditions). The Norse sagas on king Gylfa are the Frá Fornjóti ch. 1, Gylfaginning and Ynglingasaga ch. 5. According to Estonian-Swedish tradition Odin is buried in Osmussaar or Odensholm island in Estonia (Estonians are Finnic peoples).

ABC19 Weidner Chronicle was once a widely spread text:

This “chronicle” is a work of literary ambition that was part of the school curriculum. On both counts (literary, school text), this text falls outside the chronicle genre as understood by most authors. 18 Its literary framework is that of a fictitious letter between two ancient kings. The section that contains the “chronicle” is inserted as a parable about (un)just kingship. Copies are known from a Neo-Assyrian palace library (Aššur), a Neo-Babylonian temple library (Sippar), a Hellenistic private library (Uruk), and an undetermined location. Evidently, the text circulated widely in time, space, and society; its dissemination was aided by its use as school material.
[Source: Caroline Waerzeggers's article The Babylonian Chronicles: Classification and Provenance, p. 289.]

Possible reasons for Gutian ↔ Finnish replacement include:

• mention of fight taking place in Gothenburg region (OL 052-053: GODA.HIS BURCH, GODA.BURCH)

• Norse association of Finns with Gotland island and large Gothic kingdom (Frá Fornjóti, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks)

• Norse tradition of Odin's Æsir ancestors including the likes of Guta and the first Æsir man being called Finn
  (Gylfaginning ch. 6 on Búri, Frá Fornjóti on "Burri, who we call Finn", Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies)

• traditions of Finnish hero Väinämöinen's daughters dwelling in Gotland (SKVR I1 251, lines 90-101, SKVR I2 758, lines 90-101, Vuojola is archaic Finnish name for Gotland)

• traditions that Goths came from Finland (Bock family saga, the Gotland sub-story, Johannes Magnus, Historia de omnibus Gothorum Sveonumque regibus, bk. 1, p. 22).

The above Gothic theme is supported by DNA evidence. Mention must be also made of influential late 1800s American anthropologist William Ripley who considered the 2000 BC era 'blonde' or 'light' Gutians to have been Finnish related, as seen in The Races of Europe (1899), p. 74. These are the same Gutians of above ABC19 Weidner Chronicle.

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Edit: in the ABC19 storyline, it's the solar god Marduk who metes out the punishments. His Sumerian name AMAR.UTU is translated as per Wikipedia's sources as "immortal son of Utu" or "bull calf of the sun god Utu" (source). The Utu bears an Odinic connection via Utu-Oden ('sun' in Bock family saga) and Wodin/Odin as Utu-hegal/Ur-Utu parallels, but it may also refer to chronology via the element of sun (years) and a calf (young child of a bull and cattle). As calf child animal it may refer to the end part of the Age of Taurus, which ended in about 2150 BC (source). This is timewise a good match with OL narrative chronology where the age of crisis begins at 2194 BC and continues straight to Wodin's war at 2013 BC - ending of age of Taurus is about midway of this time range.

Edit: correlation between OL and ABC19 found in 2020.

[Nordic]

Source 2 Sumerian King List (SKL)

Source: original, English translation.

Relevant portions: En-nun-tarah-ana (line 124), mention of 80 years (line 136), Ur-Utu and Inki-cuc (lines 303, 311), confusion following Ur-Utu’s reign (lines 308-310), Utu-hejal’s 7 year reign (lines 335-336), Ur-Namma’s 18 year reign (lines 341-342), various following Culgis and Suens e.g. Suen-ma-gir (lines 343, 345, 347, 349, 354, 366, 375).

Corresponding OL MS portions: 050-059, especially those on Magyars and Finns (051-052), early Finnish-Frisian wars in Scandinavia and mention of 80 years (050-052), Wodin’s war tale (053-055), Wodin’s seven year reign (055), confusion after Wodin’s disappearance (055-056), subsequent Finnish rulers including the prince tutored by Magus (056), story of Inka and his Finnish crew (057), mention of Týr or THÍR in Tunis story (058-059).

Dating: 1906 onward (61 years after OL MS).

Explanation: main academic study on SKL is Thorkild Jacobsen, The Sumerian King List (1939). Sumerian texts are known to have used rebus writing to represent sound forms, as shown in Andrew Robinson, The story of writing (1995), p. 42. This implies that the Sumerian king names may not always be reducible to Sumerian language components alone, but may represent the closest sound forms corresponding to foreign names. Loaning of European and other foreign kings into Middle Eastern and Egyptian ruler depictions is well attested phenomenon, such as Alexander the Great and Persian kings in Uruk king list, Roman emperors depicted as pharaohs in Egyptian reliefs and Alexander the Great as hero in Quran. Opposite examples are the Persian king Darius and Mediterranean deities like Saturnus and Jupiter in Norse Frá Fornjóti list of Odin lineage kings. Key point here is that the sources themselves do not bring up the foreign origins of these rulers, but it must be either known from elsewhere or be deciphered via their foreign sounding names. Sumerian King List starts the list by Alulim or Elohim 'gods' (Eloeim in Phoenician Sanchuniathon's terms).

If the two linguistic equations mentioned above in the intro post are used the whole OL Finns-Wodin-Inka storyline emerges:

• En-nun-tarah-ana ↔ Týr (THÍR i.e. Tiera in SKVR I1 54 line 222) (line 124)

• mention of 80 years ↔ mention of 80 years (line 136)

• Ur-Utu’s war against Gutians ↔ Wodin’s Finnish wars (see above on ABC19 Weidner Chronicle) (line 303)

• confusion following Ur-Utu’s reign ↔ confusion after Wodin’s disappearance (lines 308-310)

• Inki-cuc following Ur-Utu ↔ Inka’s Finnish crew following Wodin (line 311)

• Utu-hejal’s 7 year reign ↔ Wodin’s 7 year reign (lines 335-336, SKL MS T and TJ versions)

• Ur-Namma’s 18 year reign ↔ the child prince tutored to adulthood by Magus (i.e. Väinämöinen) (lines 341-342)

• Culgis and Suens e.g. Suen-ma-gir ↔ Finns and Magyars (lines 343, 345, 347, 349, 354, 366, 375).

Many of these parallels are not to be found in known Norse and Finnish echoes of the Odin's war tales (e.g. the name Inka and his Finnish crew, Finn-Magyar pair). That these really are the same Odin related characters becomes crystal clear when it's noted that aside the OL there exists major textual parallel between SKL and Norse saga Frá Fornjóti and related lore on Odin's family lineage in e.g. Gylfaginning. Examples of the first are:

• brothers Ægir, Kári, Loge ↔ kings Mec-ki-aj-gacer, Enmerkar, Lugalbanda (lines 99-107)

• king Þorri (Finnish form Tiera in SKVR I1 54 line 222) ↔ En-nun-tarah-ana (line 124)

• Beiti, Heiti ↔ Balulu, Elulu (lines 141-142)

• Elliðae, Naumudal ↔ Argandea, Nani (lines 189, 193)

• Agði, Vémundar ↔ Adab, Lugal-Ane-mundu (lines 205)

• Sunnmaeri, Nordmaeri ↔ two mentions of Mari (lines 211, 221)

• Sigarr, Signy ↔ Bazi, Zizi (lines 215-216)

• repeated three earls (jarl) episode ↔ repeated three or four yarlas episode (lines 313, 317, 319, 327).

The latter Odin lineage is:

• Burri-Finn ↔ Puzur-Suen (line 244), Bur-Suen (line 369)

• gýgr Bestla ↔ Ur-gigir (line 299)

• Bors-Frjalafr ↔ Puzur-Ili (line 302)

• Voden or Óðin, son of gýgr Bestla ↔ Ur-Utu, son of Ur-gigir (line 303).

This short showcase listing tells the textual connection is not limited to OL, but extends also to Norse-Finnish legends in ways implicitly related but not explicitly apparent in OL narrative (in OL narrative the exact lineage of Wodin or his Finnish opponents is not considered that important topic). The Fornjót lineage present in OL is the Kári line via king Þorri (MS 058-059 Finnish god or prince Týr), Nórr and Górr army groups (MS 051 two Finnish armies). Note that as Norse sagas connect in the end parts to near-historical and historical medieval kings, they of course don't have counterparts in the Sumerian lore that details BC era in contrast. This means there are implicit vast milleniums long gaps in the Norse accounts, which is attested also from other Norse sagas (e.g. tale of Krishna and Narakasura in Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, ch. 3) and the likes of Quran (e.g. Aaron brother of Moses as brother of Mary the mother of Jesus).

Some errors are present in SKL, as seen in the case of duplicate Wodin (Ur-Utu and Utu-hejal), Ur-gigir or gýgr Bestla described as male and three Finnish sons of Fornjót that became a list of three successive kings in the Sumerian version (12+ sons in original Finnish so-called sons of Kaleva troupe). The loaning method seen in SKL is compatible with the SKL's earlier assumed cut-and-paste construction method.

Edit: Øvind Fagerli writing on old Sumerian literature notes that:

"no Sumerian literary compositions referring to a flood has been attested in the 3rd millenium. Miguel Civil noted that 'the theme of a flood which destroys mankind does not seem to belong to the main body of Sumerian traditions', and Lambert and Millard agreed that 'so far, there is no evidence for this tradition of a great flood among the Sumerians of the third millenium.'" (Source: Øvind Fagerli, The Rulers of Lagaš in Light of Related Sources, 2017, p. 66

This is, of course, in agreement with above as the 4.2 kiloyear (2194 BC) event is the main chronological flood in above tales and any mention before that time must refer to another flood with another set of associated characters - save the hero titles carried purposefully from one millenia to another e.g. Lamech (Lemminki) to Lammechinus (Lemminkäinen) or Utu to Wodin/Odin/Oden/Untamo.

Edit: the similarities just keep on piling. Wikipedia's sources tell that "[o]riginally thought to be a horde that swept in and brought down Akkadian and Sumerian rule in Mesopotamia, the Gutians are now known to have been in the area for at least a century by then" (source). In OL narrative the Finns, taking the role of Gutians of SKL and ABC19, arrive to war after 101 years after the sinking of Atland (OL MS 051) and after that it takes 80 years before they have the war against Wodin (OL MS 052). Thus the theme of being present almost a century before the main battle is present also in the OL narrative. Mid-1800s Dutchmen of course could not have known this.

Below: the sons of Fornjót trio (Ægir-Väinämöinen, Kári-Ilmarinen and Logi-Liekkiö) atop the third column of 1800 BC Weld-Blundell Prism.

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Edit: correlation between OL and Sumerian King List was found in 2018. Bur-Suen added October 2024.

[Nordic]

Source 3 Story of Wenamun (Moscow Papyrys 120)

Source: English translation, more about the story here.

Relevant portions: the captain mention in the quote ”Did he not entrust you to this foreign ship's captain in order to have him kill you and have them throw you into the sea?”.

Corresponding OL MS portions: 086 the skipper (captain) mention on killing the chief Finn by throwing to the sea.

Dating: 1890 (45 years after OL MS).

Explanation: of all Finnish heroes, it’s specifically the Väinämöinen that fits the best the magus in most OL episodes and specifically so in 086. Wenamun is similar in sound to the Väinämöinen and Sumerian Ur-nammu of above and is also the same root character (but not the name) as the Sumerian Meš-ki'ag-gašer (SKL line 99) ↔ Ægir son of Fornjót (Frá Fornjóti). Anglo-Saxon form of the same Wenamun-Väinämöinen name is Waégmundinga as family name (Beowulf, line 2607).

The main thematic similarity of Wenamun’s ill-fated journey is to Finnish SKVR poetry on Väinämöinen being shot by arrow, drifting in seas and ending up in north to a mistress’ place with all of this forming the preliminary episode to the following Sampo stealing and naval pursuit episode. While this latter theme is attested also from Norse and Sumerian echoes (see below), notably only the Frisian OL and Egyptian Story of Wenamun narrative takes include the captain-skipper element of throwing Wenamun or character corresponding to Väinämöinen character to the sea.

Edit: correlation between OL and Story of Wenamun was found in 2022.

[Nordic]

Source 4 SKVR VII1 679

Source: original, English translation in Matti Kuusi, Keith Bosley and Michael Branch, Finnish Folk Poetry Epic (1977) p. 122 under the title The Sampo III. Copy of the relevant parts is given further below.

Relevant portions: lines 144-170 on Väinämöinen escaping the naval pursuit by opposing matriarch figure by falling beneath the waves for three days.

Corresponding OL MS portions: 082-087, especially the 086 mention of Danish skipper throwing the Finnish leader into sea.

Dating: 1845 (same as OL MS).

Explanation: the episode where Finns led by magus try to steal the Lamp, only for all to lose it at the end, is thematically the same as high-fantasy take in SKVR poetry where Väinämöinen the leading Finnish sage organizes a raid against an opposing female leading figure to take Sampo treasure, with everyone losing the treasure at the end after the enemy woman leader changes into a monster bird (see image here). In most versions there is a naval battle at the end with no element of falling to the sea for the leading Finnish hero. Yet OL and a rare variant SKVR VII1 679 contain that element where he does fall to the sea. As this rare non-Kalevala variant version was recorded first time down by academic David Europaeus in 1845 Ilomantsi Karelia, it’s unlikely to have made into Holland within the year let alone to have been available in any form before 1845 (published versions of Kalevala do not contain this detail).

Other than OL and SKVR poetry, the same naval theme is present in the Sumerian Inana and Enki and Norse Gróttasöngr narratives. The bird monster element is shared with Inanna's imaginery, the bird monster seen in Bósa saga ok Herrauðs, ch. 7-8 and the griffin monsters guarding gold next to Hyperboreans and Scythians. The Norse-Finnish cosmic mill is named after the cosmological frog base creature (Grótti ↔ groda ’frog’, Sampo ↔ sammakko ’frog’). The two giant women theme is also attested in New Testament’s gospel context on two women turning a mill in cosmological context, as seen in Matthew 24:41 and Luke 17:35. The cosmonological rotation element is covered in likes of Giorgio Santillana’s and Hertha Dechend, Hamlet’s Mill (1969) and subsequent works e.g. Anna-Leena Siikala, Itämerensuomalaisten mytologia (2012), p. 166-199.

Edit: correlation between OL and SKVR VII1 679 was found in 2020.

[Helgiteut]

This short showcase listing tells the textual connection is not limited to OL, but extends also to Norse-Finnish legends in ways implicitly related but not explicitly apparent in OL narrative (in OL narrative the exact lineage of Wodin or his Finnish opponents is not considered that important topic). The Fornjót lineage present in OL is the Kári line via king Þorri (MS 058-059 Finnish god or prince Týr)

So would Thunor and Teu have sprung from the same god, only later being distinguished before becoming part of a pantheon?

[Nordic]

That is a very good question. On the answer I have pondered in the "Language & Etymology" section.

[Nordic]

Here is given the English language translation of oral poem SKVR VII1 679 aka The Sampo III from Matti Kuusi, Keith Bosley and Michael Branch, Finnish Folk Poetry Epic (1977) p. 122-127.

As the original poem is long, the snippet here (p. 125-127) focuses on the relevant part, with line usage following the original Finnish language poem. The snippet begins in part where the pursuing navy led by a mistress has already transformed into a huge bird monster and the fleeing Väinämöinen led party of Finns have a difficulty getting away. The part relevant for OL comparison has been bolded.

[136, p. 125] Then the old Väinämöinen
raised a paddle from the sea
his spade from the waves
struck the woman on the nails.
[140] Other nails went to pieces:
[p. 126] the one on the small finger
was left for raising the craft
for lifting the boat.

Old Väinämöinen uttered:
[145] "Were you, craft, the Creator's,
boat, of God's shaping
you'd plunge sideways in the sea
run broadside into the waves!"

Now it went into the sea
[150] the ship fell into the waves.
Old Väinämöinen himself
plunged sideways in the water
fell, ship and all, in the waves
went into the sea's inside.

[155] Pohjola's mistress herself
raised a mist into the sky
lifted fog into the air.

And old Väinämöinen sang
in the open sea's inside
[160] in the boundless waves:
"Not even a worse
man is drowned by haze
overcome by spray."

Pohjola's mistress herself
[165] went weeping homeward
wailing to the town.

Väinämöinen rose again
having rested for three nights
in the open sea's inside
[170] in the boundless waves
took a grass-hued whip
struck the water with the lash
smote the sea with the whiplash:
honey swished from the whip's path
[175] haze from where the lash whistled
[p. 127] the mist rose into the sky
the haze lifted in the air
the haze cleared up from the sea.

[Sung by ]Simana Sissonen and Simana Huohvanainen
Ilomantsi, North Karelia

As this song version comes from the Finnish party, the leading Finn's falling into sea is not depicted as threat, but instead as clever magical trick to avoid the enemy. This specific version leaves out the usual outcome where the Sampo treasure is lost to the sea and all parties thus kind of lose.

[ott]

This is a great thread. It should at some point lead to an essay which can be properly published. I need some more time to add my notes to it.

[Nordic]

Here is included the relevant portion from Andrew Robinson, The story of writing (1995), p. 42 on how the Sumerian words may have been used to reflect similar sounding spellings instead of exact Sumerian etymological use.

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