rör (OSw) hreys (ON) hreysi (ON) noun

These words mean ‘pile of stones’. Such piles seem to have had two functions, to serve as: 1) boundary markers, and 2) mounds.

In SdmL, VmL and UL a rör refers to a pile of stones forming all or part of a boundary marker plotting out the ownership of land in a village.

Norwegian law shows that burying a corpse under a pile of stones was considered disgraceful in heathen times and even more so after the introduction of Christianity. See, e.g., GuL ch. 23. In OSw the word for such a pile of stones was rösar n. pl.

boundary cairn OSw KrL Bb
OSw MEL Bb
boundary marker OSw SdmL Jb, Bb
OSw UL Blb
OSw VmL Bb
heap of rocks or stones ONorw GuL Krb, Llb
Expressions:

ra ok rör (OSw)

boundary lines and markers OSw UL Jb, Blb VmL Bb

Refs:

KLNM s.v. gränsläggning; Schlyter s.v.v. rör, röra; SL UL, 192 note 77; SL VmL, 161 notes 172−76; Söderwall s.v. rös; Tollin 1999, 51−63