| Younger Futhark |
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HISTORY The Younger Futhark are found in Scandinavia and Viking Age settlements abroad, probably in use from the 9th century onward. While the Migration Period Elder Futhark had been an actual "secret" known only to a chosen few, with only some 350 surviving inscriptions, literacy in the Younger Futhark became widespread in Scandinavia, as witnessed by the great number of Runestone s (some 6,000), sometimes inscribed with almost casual notes. There is transitional phase from ca. 650 to 800 showing mixed use of Elder and Younger Futhark letters, examples are the Björketorp (ca. 650), Stentoften (ca. 650) and Rök (ca. 800) stones. The Younger Futhark became known in Europe as the "alphabet of the Norsemen", and was studied in the interest of trade and diplomatic contacts, referred to as Abecedarium Nordmannicum in Frankish Fulda (possibly by Walahfrid Strabo ) and ''ogam lochlannach'' " Ogham of the Scandinavians" in the Book Of Ballymote . The Younger Futhark are divided into long-branch (Danish) and short-twig (Swedish and Norwegian) runes. The difference between the two versions has been a matter of controversy. A general opinion is that the difference was functional, i.e. the long-branch runes were used for documentation on stone, whereas the short-branch runes were in every day use for private or official messages on wood. In addition the Hälsinge Runes (staveless runes, ca. 900-1200) and the latinised '''Dalecarlian futhark''' (ca. 1500–1910) were developed out of the Younger futhark. VARIANTS The Icelandic and Norwegian Rune Poem s have 16 runes, with the letter names ᚠ fe ("wealth"), ᚢ ur ("iron"/"rain"), ᚦ Thurs , ᚬ As /Oss, ᚱ reidh ("ride"), ᚴ kaun ("ulcer"), ᚼ hagall ("hail"), ᚾ naudhr/naud ("need"), ᛁ is/iss ("ice"), ᛅ ar ("plenty"), ᛋ sol ("sun"), ᛏ Tyr , ᛒ bjarkan/bjarken ("birch"), ᛘ madhr/madr ("man"), ᛚ logr/lög ("water"), ᛦ yr ("yew"). Long-branch runes The long-branch runes are the following signs: :ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ ᛦ Short-twig runes In the short-twig runes (or Rök runes), nine runes appear as simplified variants of the long-branch runes, while the remaining seven have identical shapes: :ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚭ ᚱ ᚴ ᚽ ᚿ ᛁ ᛆ ᛌ ᛐ ᛓ ᛙ ᛚ ᛧ Hälsinge Runes (staveless runes) Hälsinge runes are found in the Hälsingland region of Sweden , used between the 10th and 12th centuries. The runes seem to be a simplification of the Swedish–Norwegian runes and lack vertical strokes, hence the name 'staveless.' They cover the same set of letters as the other Younger Futhark alphabets. This variant has no assigned Unicode range (as of Unicode 4.0). Dalrunes Named after the Swedish province Dalarna , the Dalrunes use an alphabetic script influenced by both long-branch and short-twig runes. The script introduces dotted variants of voiceless signs to denote the corresponding voiced consonants, or vice versa, voiceless variants of voiced consonants. It came into use in the early 16th century and remained in some use up to the 20th century. Its inventory is suitable for transcribing modern Swedish : ᛆ a, ᛒ b, ᛍ c, ᛑ d, ᚦ þ, ᚧ ð, ᛂ e, ᚠ f, ᚵ g, ᚼ h, ᛁ i, ᚴ k, ᛚ l, ᛘ m, ᚿ n, ᚮ o, ᛔ p, ᚱ r, ᛌ s, ᛐ t, ᚢ u, ᚡ v, ᛦ y, ᛎ z, ᛅ æ, ᚯ ø There are other varieties of the Younger Futhark, in particular the ). In total, about 380 objects dating from 1500–1910 have been found in the provinces of Dalarna , Gästrikland and Härjedalen . The Edward-script was in use until the 1910s in Älvdalen , Dalarna , and also appears on the Kensington Runestone , which to most researchers indicates its status as a hoax. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |