Gli appunti di Champollion sulle rune nordiche

The paper examines a number of handwritten notes taken by Jean-François Champollion during his Orientalist training, now preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris) and the City library of Faenza (Italy). The notes under consideration are those devoted to the study of runes and the Old Norse language and literature. An attempt is made to determine the possible sources used by Champollion in compiling these notes, and to understand the motivation that might have prompted the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs to become interested in runes. It is also shown that the papers preserved in Faenza are exact copies of Champollion’s notes held at the BnF, executed by a different hand, perhaps that of Champollion’s pupil Francesco Salvolini.