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Runic alphabet

The runic alphabet or Futhark (from the first few letters) was the alphabet used by the old Germanic peoples (such as the Angles and Norse), their letters being called runes. However, the earliest runic inscriptions (those predating 600 CE) are exclusively linked with a tribe called Harilaz (or Herilaz, Erilaz, plural Heruloz), known by the Romans as the Heruli.

They were also used in divination and magic. Unlike the Latin alphabet's letters, they have inherent meanings. The Indo-European roots of the word 'rune' , *Run, means mystery or secret and this is elaborated further in one of its derivatives Raunen meaning to whisper or talk in secret.

Other writing systems known as runes are the Hungarian Runes and Gok Turk Runes. A link between them has been suggested, but most scholars however do not hold this opinion. Each of these writing systems has been influenced by the medium upon which it was written. Runes are designed to be carved or scratched into wood or stone, and their letter shapes are composed almost entirely of straight lines, in order to make them easy to carve; compare ogham. As such, the several scripts called "runes" superficially resemble one another.

Original System

The original 24-type futhark.

The original Nordic rune alphabet, the 24-type futhark, is often called the "rune line" and was organized in 3 groups of 8 runes each, called ätter (families, clans); Freyr's ätt, Hagal's ätt and Tyr's ätt respectively, with the first character in each group being examplified by the initial character of the name.

The futharks experience local variations: runes may be mirrored, twisted around 90 degrees or smoothed (so that the o-rune may start to look more like a loop).

The original Nordic 24-type futhark, also known as the Germanic futhark:

f  u  þ  a  r  k  g  w

h  n  i  j  p  e/ï z/R  s

t  b  e  m  l  ng  d  o

Note: The thorn character ( þ ) is transliterated to th in modern English.

Later Systems

The initial Nordic futhark of 24 runes was later shortened to 16 runes. This occurred around AD 800 and is generally seen as an adaptation to simplify the work of the writer. The two futharks are called 16-type futhark and 24-type futhark, respectively. Most Scandinavian rune inscriptions are from after AD 800 and use the later 16-type futhark. Most of these letters had multiple sound values, e.g; f/v, o/u/Ü, o/å, k/g/ng, i/e/j (as in yes), a/ah, t/d/nt, b/p/mb.

The younger Nordic 16-type futhark:

f  u  þ  (a)  r  k

h  n  i   a   s 

t  b  m   l   R

This is the Norwegian/Swedish variant, also called short-twig runes. The Danish variant is very similar.

Other Nordic futharks include stave-less runes (presumably for quicker carving) and the medieval futhark (which includes runes representing the full latin alphabet).

The runes Thorn and Wynn were adopted into the English alphabet, and Thorn is used today in the Icelandic alphabet.

Origins of the Runes

The Runic alphabet was created by speakers of Germanic dialects in order to write their languages. Although some scholars claim the runes to be entirely of Greek (Morris in Odenstedt 359) or Latin (Odenstedt 362) origin, most scholars view this alphabet as a script of mixed origin. Seebold⁵, Krause³, Jensen (571) and Coulmas (1996: 444 ff.) think that the Runic alphabet is a mixture of North Italic/Alpine alphabets with additional Latin influence. This most frequent school of thought is certainly more realistic than the monogenetic explanations provided by Morris and Odenstedt. Some letters are obviously Latin in origin, for example the runes for /f/ and /r/, others are reminiscent--at least on a formal level--of Alpine letters, for example the /h/-rune. There are also symbols that could be either Latin or Alpine, for example the /i/-rune. Bernal (36) thinks that there was also some substrate alphabet involved; Miller (62) claims that the origins of the runic alphabet are archaic-Mediterranean. Both fail to detail reasons for their beliefs. In the same work, Miller also writes that the phonetic parameters on which the runic alphabet is based are ultimately clearly Semitic and links them to the scripts of Byblos and Ugarit as well as the Phoenician alphabet. Several different Runic scripts developed over time, including an Anglo-Saxon system that even had different symbols for /k/ and /c/ (modern English /tS/). The latter was symbolized by the old /k/-rune; a new symbol was created for Anglo-Saxon /k/.

Use of Runes

Runes were normally used for inscriptions in wood, metal, or stone. The runes consist mostly of vertical and diagonal marks, with notably fewer horizontal marks or curves (and in some versions of the runes, none at all). It is speculated that runes were designed this way to aid carving in wood. The words would be written along the grain of the wood, meaning all the marks were cut across the grain. This is good because cuts along the grain might cause the wood to split, or might close up if the wood absorbs moisture.

The earliest surviving runes are tentatively dated to about A.D. 200, though it is generally believed that they were invented no later than year 1. These early runes up to about A.D. 650 appear to all use the same "futhark" with about 24 runes. Most of these older inscriptions are very short and cryptic, and in most cases it is hard to translate them or even be sure what language they are. Most preseved runes are inscriptions in stone, i.e. rune stones or in different kinds of metal art and jewelry. A few fragments exist on wood, barch and bone, and a few on parchment, the most famous being the Codex Runicus. There does seem to be a form of runic inscriptions found carved into a silver bowl, among the burial goods of the Issyk (in the Ukraine) "Golden Warrior-Priestess" of the Sakan people, dating to ca. 500 BCE. At least every single form found in this inscription is also found in the later Germanic rune alphabet.

It appears that runes may actually be much older. The rune for the sound æ, as in sAd, was not used in writing, for at that time the Germanic Languages didn't have that sound. Yet, in every list of characters it always appeared. However, in Proto-West Germanic æ appears to have existed as a full-blown phoneme.

At later dates the runes varied from country to country. The size of the futhark declined to about 16 or 18 runes in Norway and Sweden, where the vast majority of the later runes are found. In England the futhark increased to 29 runes (plus a few more only used regionally or for foreign proper names).

Almost all runes which have been deciphered were used for writing Germanic languages, such as Old Norse, Norwegian, Swedish, Old English, and in the case of many older runes, languages that appear Germanic but are difficult to identify more precisely. The only use of runes for identified non-Germanic languages is probably a few Latin inscriptions written with English runes, or with a mixture of Latin letters and English runes. Perhaps there are a few other cases, but they would be rare.

The runes were most commonly used for short inscriptions rather than full text. Most runic texts are written without word delimiters, so the text can becomeslightlyhardtointerpret. This is also an indication that the runic alphabet is possibly not directly inspired by the latin and greek writing systems, but older systems without word spacing. The older runes have no prefered reading direction, and letters appearing last in a word may be re-used as the initial letter for the next word, all leading up to increased ambiguity.

The content of the rune texts vary with the material used for inscription: runes found on stone or metal are often very official in character, while wood- or bone-inscriptions can be very profane, even vulgar, akin to the kind of nonsense that may be found scribbled on toilet walls. We know that a lot of people could read and write runes fluently, not only specialized guilds, but inscriptions on stone seem to have been the work of professional rune-carvers, since many stones have been signed by the same person.

Runes appear to have fallen into disuse around A.D. 1000 except in Scandinavia where they continued to be used for a few more centuries. Some more isolated regions of Scandinavia continued using the runes up until modern times. There have been occasional revivals over the centuries, mostly by people wanting to associate with the past in some way. The current wave of enthusiasm seems partly inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien and partly by New Age mysticism. The runes are of important value to followers of the Ásatrú religion.

Runes and their mythological and magical associations

In Norse mythology the god Odin hung on the world-tree, Yggdrasil for nine days in self-sacrifice in order to bring the gift of runes to mankind. According to Tacitus, the ancient Germanic peoples used to carve marks on slips of fruitwood and select them as lots for divination. This account, and the several runic poems associating meanings and images with the names of the runic letters, has led more recent occultists to attempt to reconstruct systems of divination using the runic letters.

Runes and Nationalism

As Germanic symbols, the Runes were used by the Nazis. Some symbols such as the Odal rune are used on neo-nazi flags in place of the banned swastika. Other neo-Nazi groups use the Algiz rune (although mistakenly interpret it as the "Life" rune, rather than the protection rune that it is.) The swastika itself is considered by some to be sig or sowilo runes to represent the letter "S" stylistically overlapped to represent "socialism" for the National Socialist German Workers' Party. However, since the swastika was used as a symbol of german nationalism well before the NSDAP obtained that name, this explanation seems unlikely.

Unicode coding

Rune	Position	Runic Letter	Rune	Position	Runic Letter	Rune	Position	Runic Letter
ᚠ	16A0	Fehu Feoh Fe F	ᚹ	16B9	Wunjo Wynn W	ᛒ	16D2	Berkanan Beorc Bjarkan B
ᚡ	16A1	V	ᚺ	16BA	Haglaz H	ᛓ	16D3	Short-Twig-Bjarkan B
ᚢ	16A2	Uruz Ur U	ᚻ	16BB	Haegl H	ᛔ	16D4	Dotted-P
ᚣ	16A3	Yr	ᚼ	16BC	Long-Branch-Hagall H	ᛕ	16D5	Open-P
ᚤ	16A4	Y	ᚽ	16BD	Short-Twig-Hagall H	ᛖ	16D6	Ehwaz Eh E
ᚥ	16A5	W	ᚾ	16BE	Naudiz Nyd Naud N	ᛗ	16D7	Mannaz Man M
ᚦ	16A6	Thurisaz Thurs Thorn	ᚿ	16BF	Short-Twig-Naud N	ᛘ	16D8	Long-Branch-Madr M
ᚧ	16A7	Eth	ᛀ	16C0	Dotted-N	ᛙ	16D9	Short-Twig-Madr M
ᚨ	16A8	Ansuz A	ᛁ	16C1	Isaz Is Iss I	ᛚ	16DA	Laukaz Lagu Logr L
ᚩ	16A9	Os O	ᛂ	16C2	E	ᛛ	16DB	Dotted-L
ᚪ	16AA	Ac A	ᛃ	16C3	Jeran J	ᛜ	16DC	Ingwaz
ᚫ	16AB	Aesc	ᛄ	16C4	Ger	ᛝ	16DD	Ing
ᚬ	16AC	Long-Branch-Oss O	ᛅ	16C5	Long-Branch-Ar Ae	ᛞ	16DE	Dagaz Daeg D
ᚭ	16AD	Short-Twig-Oss O	ᛆ	16C6	Short-Twig-Ar A	ᛟ	16DF	Othalan Ethel O
ᚮ	16AE	O	ᛇ	16C7	Iwaz Eoh	ᛠ	16E0	Ear
ᚯ	16AF	Oe	ᛈ	16C8	Pertho Peorth P	ᛡ	16E1	Ior
ᚰ	16B0	On	ᛉ	16C9	Algiz Eolhx	ᛢ	16E2	Cweorth
ᚱ	16B1	Raido Rad Reid R	ᛊ	16CA	Sowilo S	ᛣ	16E3	Calc
ᚲ	16B2	Kauna	ᛋ	16CB	Sigel Long-Branch-Sol S	ᛤ	16E4	Cealc
ᚳ	16B3	Cen	ᛌ	16CC	Short-Twig-Sol S	ᛥ	16E5	Stan
ᚴ	16B4	Kaun K	ᛍ	16CD	C	ᛦ	16E6	Long-Branch-Yr
ᚵ	16B5	G	ᛎ	16CE	Z	ᛧ	16E7	Short-Twig-Yr
ᚶ	16B6	Eng	ᛏ	16CF	Tiwaz Tir Tyr T	ᛨ	16E8	Icelandic-Yr
ᚷ	16B7	Gebo Gyfu G	ᛐ	16D0	Short-Twig-Tyr T	ᛩ	16E9	Q
ᚸ	16B8	Gar	ᛑ	16D1	D	ᛪ	16EA	X

Rune	Position	Punctuation
᛫	16EB	Single Punctuation
᛬	16EC	Multiple Punctuation
᛭	16ED	Cross Punctuation

Rune	Position	Golden Number
ᛮ	16EE	Arlaug Symbol (Golden Number 17)
ᛯ	16EF	Tvimadur Symbol (Golden Number 18)
ᛰ	16F0	Belgthor Symbol (Golden Number 19)

᛫ᚹᚱᛁᛏᛁᛝ ᚫᛝᛚᚩ ᚱᚢᚾᛁᚳ ᚢᚾᛁᛣᚩᛞᛖ ᚩᚾ ᚹᛁᛣᛁᛈᚫᛞᛁᚫ᛫

Bibliography

¹Bernal, Martin, 1990, Cadmean letters. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns. ²Jensen, Hans, 1970, Sign Symbol and Script. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. Translation of Die Schrift in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften. 1958, as revised by the author. ³Krause, Wolfgang, 1970, Runen. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ⁴Miller, D. Gary, 1994, Ancient scripts and phonological knowledge. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. ⁵Seebold, Elmar, 1991, Die Stellung der englischen Runen im Rahmen der Überlieferung des älteren Fuþark In: Bammesberger S. 439-569.

External links

• Gullsskoen Rune Font
• Rune fonts
• The Meanings Of The Runes
• The Rune Poem (Old English runic version here)
• Runes in the National Socialist German Workers' Party

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