On a previous page I spelled the name Farthegn with letters from the 24-character 'elder futhark' (the runic alphabet). During the Viking Age this futhark was shortened to only 16 characters, requiring certain letters to do double duty. For example, since the letter "e" was no longer used, the e-rune had to be represented by the i-rune. The g-rune was sometimes replaced by the k-rune. As a result, the word thegn was spelled "thikn", "thign", and even "thiakna" on some rune stones.
"Thegn" was also used as a Scandinavian personal name and, like thousands of other personal names, eventually developed into an English surname (in this instance, the surnames Thain, Thaine, and Thayne).
page 189: "Titles like thegn and drengr most probably belong in the military sphere, the first used of veterans, the second of younger warriors."
page 267: "We may presume that the ranks of the retinue were filled by 'thegns', 'drengs', and 'svens', (Old Norse thegn, drengr, sveinn), all recruited from the best families in the country (and abroad)."
page 285-6: Svend Aakjaer "maintained that the Scandinavian 'thegns' and 'drengs' were -- like their Anglo-Saxon counterparts -- royal 'servants', members of the group of nobles, who gave the king personal service and other members of his retinue or bodyguard." Since the earliest Danish example of the word 'thegn' on a rune stone is "associated with lith, host, warband or the like, we may reasonably assume it denoted a kind of military status. 'Thegn' is then a title of rank (cf. the man dubbed Knight in the Middle Ages or commissioned as an officer today)."
page 287-8: "We may assume that 'thegns' and certain 'drengs' were associated in some way with the King's military organization. Many of them were probably quite simply hemthaegar, members of his household who acted as advisers, administrators, and commanders. And once a 'thegn', always a 'thegn'. After a period of service in attendance on the king, he remained a 'thegn' but was now a captain or colonel of the reserve. Some 'thegns' were probably given official functions in the countryside, at royal residences and on crown demesnes, bailiffs or revenue collectors or the like. Others likely returned to run their own family estates. This is the picture of 'thegns' that can be drawn from Anglo-Saxon parallels and the occurrence of the word in runic inscriptions.
"It will be self-evident that 'thegns' were drawn from the best families in the country."
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