metres, at the side of the road. The stone circle and the other monuments described by Gadd could not be found anymore. The runes mani can be interpreted in two ways, since runic inscriptions never repeat two runes. One possibility is that it refers to Máni, the moon, and the other alternative is the male name Manni which is derived from maðr ("man"). The runes mus:kia are more challenging and the older interpretation that it was Mus-Gea is now rejected. It is probably a nominalization of myskia which means "darken" as during sunset, and one scholar has suggested that it could mean "sunset" and "twilight" and refer to e.g. a hair colour. A second theory is that the name refers to the animal bat. It is also disputed whether it is a man's name or a woman's name, but most scholars think that it refers to a woman. The name Myskia appears in a second runic inscription in Södermanland, and it may refer to the same person. The last part of the cross-less inscription is both unusual and partly problematic. The word ystarla could without context be interpreted as both "westwards" and "eastwards", but since an austarla appears later in the inscription, it is agreed that ystarla means "westwards". It is unusual, but not unique, that the y-rune () represents the v phoneme. An additional reason for this interpretation is the fact that it would allow the last part of the inscription to be interpreted as a poem in the meter fornyrðislag. This would explain the use of the rune since vestarla permits alliteration with um vaʀit. It is not known whether he refers to Hróðgeirr (Roger) or Holmsteinn, but most think that it is Holmsteinn who had been westwards. The plural ending -u in the verb form dou shows that both Hróðgeirr and Holmsteinn died in the Ingvar expedition. Latin transliteration: §A mus:kia/mes:kia : a(u)[k :] (m)an(i) : litu : rasa : ku[(m)(l) : þausi : at : b]ruþur · (s)in : hr(u)þkaiʀ · auk : faþur sin hulm:stain · §B · han hafþi · ystarla u(m) : uaʀit · lenki : tuu : a:ustarla : meþ : inkuari Runic Swedish transcription: §A Myskia ok Manni/Māni lētu ræisa kumbl þausi at brōður sinn Hrōðgæiʀ ok faður sinn Holmstæin. §B Hann hafði vestarla um vaʀit længi, dōu austarla með Ingvari. English translation: §A "Myskja and Manni/Máni had these monuments raised