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]] The Runic alphabets are a set of related , A, R,'' and ''K''); the Anglo-Saxon variant as ''Futhorc'' (due to sound changes undergone in Old English by the same six letters). OVERVIEW The earliest runic inscriptions date from C 150 CE, and the alphabet was generally replaced by the Latin Alphabet with Christianization , by c 700 CE in central Europe and by c 1100 CE in Scandinavia. However, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in Scandinavia, longest in rural Sweden until the early 20th Century (used mainly for decoration as runes in Dalarna and on Runic Calendar s). The three best known runic alphabets are:
The Younger Futhark is further divided into (the division between Danish and Norwegian-Swedish poorly reflects geographic distribution):
The Younger Futhark developed further into:
The origins of the runic scripts are uncertain. Many characters of the elder futhark bear a close resemblance to characters from the Latin alphabet. Other candidates are the 5th to 1st Century BCE Northern Italic Alphabet s, Lepontic , Rhaetic and Venetic , all closely related to each other and themselves descended from the Old Italic Alphabet . These scripts bear a remarkable resemblance to the Futhark in many regards. BACKGROUND , the elder futhark and the younger futhark, on the Rök Runestone ]] The runes were introduced to, or invented by, the Germanic Peoples in the 1st or 2nd century. (The oldest known runic inscription dates to ca. the 160s and is found on a comb discovered in the bog of Vimose, Funen . The inscription reads ''harja''; a disputed candidate for a 1st century inscription is on the Meldorf Fibula ). This period may correspond to the late Proto-Germanic or Common Germanic stage linguistically, with a continuum of dialects not yet clearly separated into the three branches of later centuries, viz. North Germanic , West Germanic and East Germanic . No distinction is made in surviving runic inscriptions between long and short vowels, although such a distinction was certainly present phonologically in the spoken languages of the time. Similarly, there are no signs for Labiovelar s in the Elder Futhark (such signs were introduced in both the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc and the Gothic Alphabet as variants of ''p''; see Peorð .) The name given to the signs, contrasting them with Latin or Greek letters, is attested on a 6th century Alamannic runestaff as ''runa'', and possibly as ''runo'' on the Einang Stone (c4th Century). The name is from a root ''run-'' (Gothic ''runa'') meaning "secret" or "whisper". (C.f. also Finnish , where ''runo'' was loaned to mean "poem".) Origins Mythological In old Scandinavian belief, the runes were of divine origin ( (''Runo fahi raginakundo toj meaning "I prepare the suitable divine rune ..."Transcription and translation provided by Rundata .) and in an attestation from the 9th Century on the Sparlösa Runestone (''Ok rað runaR þaR rægi[n kundu'' meaning "And interpret the runes of divine origin"Transcription and translation provided by Rundata .). More notably, in '' Hávamál '', stanza 80, the runes are also described as ''reginkunnr'': The eddic poem explains that their originator was the god Odin , and stanzas 138, 139 describe how Odin received the rune through his self- Sacrifice . The text (in Old Norse and in English translation) is as follows: There are two accounts of how runes became known to mortal men. It is told in Rigsþula how Rig , identified as Heimdall in the introduction, sired three sons, Thrall (slave), Churl (freeman) and Jarl (noble), on human women. These sons became the ancestors of the three classes of men indicated by their names. When Jarl reached an age when he began to handle weapons and show other signs of nobility, Rig returned and having claimed him as a son, taught him the runes. In 1555 , the exiled Swedish archbishop Olaus Magnus recorded a tradition that a man named Kettil Runske had stolen three rune staffs from Odin and learned the runes and their magic. Historical See Also: Elder Futhark , a vellum manuscript from c1300CE containing one of the oldest and best preserved texts of the Scanian Law , written entirely in runes.]] The runes developed comparatively late, centuries after the Mediterranean alphabets from which they are probably descended. There are some similarities to alphabets of dating to the 2nd Century BC (Markey 2001). This is in a northern Etruscan alphabet, but features a Germanic name, ''Harigast''. New archaeological evidence came from Monte Calvario (Auronzo di Cadore). The angular shapes of the runes are shared with most contemporary alphabets of the period used for carving in wood or stone. A peculiarity of the runic alphabet as compared to the Old Italic family is rather the absence of ''horizontal'' strokes. Runes were commonly carved on the edge of narrow pieces of wood. The primary grooves cut spanned the whole piece vertically, against the grain of the wood: curves are difficult to make, and horizontal lines get lost among the grain of the split wood. This vertical characteristic is also shared by other alphabets, such as the early form of the Latin Alphabet used for the Duenos Inscription . The " West Germanic hypothesis" speculates on an introduction by West Germanic Tribes . This hypothesis is based on claiming that the earliest inscriptions of c200CE, found in bogs and graves around Jutland (the Vimose Inscriptions ), exhibit word endings that, being interpreted by Scandinavia n scholars to be Proto-Norse , are considered unresolved and having been long the subject of discussion. Inscriptions like ''wagnija'', ''niþijo'', and ''harija'' are supposed to incarnate tribenames, tentatively proposed to be Vangiones , the Nidensis and the Harii , tribes located in the Rhineland.Looijenga, J. H. (1997). '' Runes around the North Sea and on the Continent 150-700CE '', dissertation, Groningen University. Since names ending in -io reflect Germanic morphology representing the Latin ending -ius, and the suffix -inius was reflected by Germanic -inio- Weisgerber 1968:135, 392ff. and Weisgerber 1966/67:207, the question of the problematic ending -ijo in masculine Proto Norse would be resolved by assuming Roman (Rhineland) influences, while "the awkward ending -a of laguþewa (cf. Syrett 1994:44f.) can be solved by accepting the fact that the name may indeed be West Germanic."Looijenga, J. H. (1997). '' Runes around the North Sea and on the Continent AD 150-700 '', dissertation, Groningen University. However, it should be noted that in the early Runic period differences between Germanic languages are generally assumed to be minute. Another theory assumes a ", an early "literary Germanic" employed by the entire Late Common Germanic linguistic community after the separation of Gothic (2nd to 5th centuries), while the spoken dialects may already have been more diverse.cited after . Antonsen (1965), p. 36 The genesis of the Elder Futhark was complete by the early 5th century, with the Kylver Stone being the first evidence of the ''futhark'' ordering as well as of the ''p'' rune. Magic and Divination In the ''Ljóðatal'' section of the '' Hávamál '', the runes are attributed with the power to bring that which is dead to life:- The earliest runic inscriptions were certainly not coherent texts of any length, but simple markings on artifacts (e.g. Bracteate s, combs, etc.), giving the name of either the craftsman or the proprietor, or, sometimes, remaining a linguistic mystery. Because of this, it is possible that the early runes were not so much used as a simple writing system, but rather as Magical signs to be used for charms, or for Divination . The name ''rune'' itself, taken to mean "secret, something hidden", seems to indicate that knowledge of the runes was originally considered esoteric, or restricted to an elite. The eerie 6th century Björketorp Runestone warns in Proto-Norse using the word ''rune'' in both senses: Haidzruno runu, falahak haidera, ginnarunaz. Arageu haeramalausz uti az. Weladaude, sa'z þat barutz. Uþarba spa. I, master of the runes(?) conceal here runes of power. Incessantly (plagued by) maleficence, (doomed to) insidious death (is) he who breaks this (monument). I prophesy destruction / prophecy of destruction.Translation provided by Rundata . The same curse and use of the word rune is also found on the Stentoften Runestone . There are also some inscriptions suggesting a medieval belief in the magical significance of runes, such as the Franks Casket (700CE) panel. However, it has proven difficult to find unambiguous traces of runic "oracles": Although Norse literature is full of references to runes, it nowhere contains specific instructions on divination. There are at least three sources on divination with rather vague descriptions that may or may not refer to runes, Tacitus's ''Germania'', Snorri Sturluson's ''Ynglinga saga'' and Rimbert's ''Vita Ansgari''. The first source, Tacitus' '' Germania '', describes "signs" chosen in groups of three. A second source is the '' Ynglinga Saga '', where Granmar , the king of Södermanland , goes to Uppsala for the Blót . There, the "chips" fell in a way that said that he would not live long (''Féll honum þá svo spánn sem hann mundi eigi lengi lifa''). The third source is Rimbert 's '' Vita Ansgari '', where there are three accounts of what seems to be the use of runes for divination, but Rimbert calls it "drawing lots". One of these accounts is the description of how a renegade Swedish king Anund Uppsale first brings a Danish fleet to Birka , but then changes his mind and asks the Danes to "draw lots". According to the story, this "drawing of lots" was quite informative, telling them that attacking Birka would bring bad luck and that they should attack a Slavic town instead. The lack of knowledge on historical usage of the runes has not stopped modern authors from extrapolating entire systems of divination from what few specifics exist, usually loosely based on the runes' reconstructed names and additional outside influence (see Runic Divination ). A recent study of runic magic suggests that runes were used to create magical objects such as amulets (MacLeod and Mees 2006), but not in a way that would indicate that runic writing was any more inherently magical than were other writing systems such as Latin or Greek. Common use ''' from Saleby , Västergötland , Sweden, containing an inscription from 1228 in the Runic alphabet]] Some later runic finds are on monuments ( Rune Stone s), which often contain solemn inscriptions about people who died or performed great deeds. For a long time it was assumed that this kind of grand inscription was the primary use of runes, and that their use was associated with a certain societal class of rune-carvers. However, in the middle of the 1950s, about 600 inscriptions known as the Bryggen Inscriptions were found in Bergen . These inscriptions were made on wood and bone, often in the shape of sticks of various sizes, and contained inscriptions of an everyday nature — ranging from name tags, prayers (often in Latin ), personal messages, business letters, expressions of affection, to bawdy phrases of a profane and sometimes even vulgar nature. Following this find, it is nowadays commonly assumed that at least in late use, Runic was a widespread and common writing system. In the later Middle Ages, runes were also used in the Clog Almanacs (sometimes called ''Runic staff'', ''Prim'' or ''Scandinavian calendar'') of Sweden. The authenticity of some monuments bearing Runic inscriptions found in Northern America is disputed, but most of them date from modern times. Gothic runes Theories of the existence of separate Gothic runes have been advanced, even identifying them as the original alphabet from which the Futhark were derived, but these have little support in actual findings (mainly the Spearhead Of Kovel , with its right-to-left inscription, its T-shaped Tiwaz and its rectangular Dagaz ). If there ever were genuinely Gothic runes, they were soon replaced by the Gothic Alphabet . The letters of the Gothic alphabet, however, as given by the Alcuin manuscript (9th century), are obviously related to the names of the Futhark. The names are clearly Gothic, but it is impossible to say whether they are as old as, or even older than, the letters themselves. A handful of Elder Futhark inscriptions were found in Gothic territory, such as the 4th century Ring Of Pietroassa . Later development As Proto-Germanic evolved into its later language groups, the words assigned to the runes and the sounds represented by the runes themselves began to diverge somewhat, and each culture would either create new runes, rename or rearrange its rune names slightly, or even stop using obsolete runes completely, to accommodate these changes. Thus, the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc has several runes peculiar to itself to represent Diphthong s unique to (or at least prevalent in) the Anglo-Saxon dialect. However, the fact that the younger Futhark has sixteen runes, while the Elder Futhark has twenty four, is not fully explained by the some six hundred years of sound changes that had occurred in the North Germanic language group. The development here might seem rather astonishing, since the younger form of the alphabet came to use fewer different rune-signs at the same time as the development of the language led to a greater number of different phonemes than had been present at the time of the older futhark. For example, voiced and unvoiced consonants merged in script, and so did many vowels, while the number of vowels in the spoken language increased. From about 1100, this disadvantage was eliminated in the medieval runes, which again increased the number of different signs to correspond with the number of phonemes in the language. CORPUS The largest group of surviving Runic inscription are Viking Age Younger Futhark runestones, most commonly found in Sweden. Another large group are medieval runes, most commonly found on small objects, often wooden sticks. The largest concentration of runic inscriptions are the Bryggen Inscriptions found in Bergen , more than 650 in total. Elder Futhark inscriptions number around 350, about 260 of which are from Scandinavia, of which about half are on Bracteate s. Anglo-Saxon Futhorc -inscriptions number around 100 items. The following table lists the number of known inscriptions (in any alphabet variant) by geographical region: In the burial mound of Maes Howe in Orkney are many runic inscriptions, believed to have been made by Vikings in the 12th Century. See Maeshowe although there are no internal photographs. ELDER FUþARK Main article: Elder Futhark . The Elder Futhark, used for writing Proto-Norse (''urnordisk'', ''urnordiska''), consist of twenty-four runes, often arranged in three rows of eight. The earliest known sequential listing of the full set of 24 runes dates to c400CE and is found on the Kylver Stone in Gotland . The 24 Elder Futhark runes with their common Transliteration s are: Names Each rune most probably had a name, chosen to represent the sound of the rune itself. The names are, however, not directly attested for the Elder Futhark themselves. Reconstructed names in Proto-Germanic have been suggested for them by, based on the names given for runes of the later alphabets in the Rune Poem s and the names of the letters of the Gothic Alphabet . : fehu "wealth, Cattle " : ûruz " Aurochs " (or ûram " Water / Slag "?) : þurisaz " Giant " : ansuz "one of the Aesir " (or ahsam "ear (of corn)"?) : raidô "ride, journey" : kaunan " Ulcer , illness" : gebô "gift" : wunjô "comfort, glory, Joy " : haglaz " Hail (the precipitation)" : naudiz " Need " : îsaz " Ice " : jera " Year " or " Harvest " : îhaz / îwaz " Yew " : perþô ? "chance, fate, Orlog " : Algiz " Elk "? : sôwilô "Sun" : tîwaz ('' Tiwaz or Tyr, God of War) : berkanan " Birch " : ehwaz " Horse " : mannaz " Man " : laguz " Lake " (or laukaz " Leek "?) : Ingwaz Yngvi , Earth God : dagaz " Day " : ôþalan "estate, Inheritance " FRISIAN AND ANGLO-SAXON FUþORC Main article: Anglo-Saxon Futhorc . The Futhorc are an extended alphabet, consisting of 29, and later even 33 characters. It was used probably from the 5th century onward. There are competing theories as to the origins of the Anglo-Saxon Fuþorc. One theory proposes that it was developed in Frisia and later spread to England . Another holds that runes were introduced by Scandinavians to England where the fuþorc was modified and exported to Frisia. Both theories have their inherent weaknesses and a definitive answer likely awaits more archaeological evidence. Futhorc inscriptions are found e.g. on the Thames Scramasax , in the Vienna Codex , in Cotton Otho B.x ( Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem ) and on the Ruthwell Cross . The Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem has: feoh, ur, thorn, os, rad, cen, gyfu, wynn, haegl, nyd, is, ger, eoh, peordh, eolh, sigel, tir, beorc, eh, mann, lagu, ing, ethel, daeg, ac, aesc, yr, ior, ear. The expanded alphabet has the additional letters cweorth, calc, cealc and stan. It should be mentioned that these additional letters have only been found in manuscripts. Feoh, þorn, and sigel stood for [þ , and in most environments, but voiced to [v , and [z between vowels or voiced consonants. Gyfu and wynn stood for the letters Yogh and Wynn which became and [w in Middle English . YOUNGER FUþARK See Also: Younger Futhark The Younger Fuþark, also called Scandinavian Fuþark, is a reduced form of the Elder Futhark , consisting of only 16 characters. The reduction correlates with phonetic changes when Proto-Norse evolved into Old Norse . They are found in Scandinavia and Viking Age settlements abroad, probably in use from the 9th century onward. They 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. Names ]] The Icelandic and Norwegian Rune Poem s have 16 runes, with the letter names fe ("wealth"), ur ("iron"/"rain"), Thurs , As /Oss, reidh ("ride"), kaun ("ulcer"), hagall ("hail"), naudhr/naud ("need"), is/iss ("ice"), ar ("plenty"), sol ("sun"), Tyr , bjarkan/bjarken ("birch"), madhr/madr ("man"), logr/lög ("water"), yr ("yew"). Evolution In the 7th century appeared an intermediary form of runes between the Elder Futhark and the Younger Futhark, but there are very few inscriptions. Two of them are the Stentoften Runestone and the Björketorp Runestone , where the Haglaz rune has evolved into having the same form as the h-rune of the younger futhark, but it is used for an a-phoneme. The k-rune, which looks like a Y is a transition form between and in the two futharks. The two futharks were in parallel use for some time, and one example of this is the Rök Runestone . Long-branch runes The long-branch runes are the following signs: Short-twig runes The short-twig runes (or Rök runes) are a simplified version of the long-branch runes, consisting of the following sixteen signs: - Hälsinge Runes (staveless runes) The Hälsinge runes are named after the traditional province of Hälsingland in Sweden , where they were first noted in modern times. However, they were used in a considerably larger area, and they were 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). "MARCOMANNIC RUNES" In a treatise called ''de inventione litterarum'', preserved in 8th and 9th century manuscripts, mainly from the southern part of the Carolingian Empire ( Alemannia , Bavaria ), ascribed to Hrabanus Maurus , a runic alphabet consisting of a curious mixture of Elder Futhark with Anglo-Saxon Futhorc is recorded. The alphabet is traditionally called "Marcomannic runes", but it has no connection with the Marcomanni and is rather an attempt of Carolingian scholars to represent all letters of the Latin alphabets with runic equivalents. MEDIEVAL RUNES In the middle ages, the younger futhark in Scandinavia was expanded, so that it once more contained one sign for each phoneme of the old Norse language. Dotted variants of voiceless signs were introduced to denote the corresponding voiced consonants, or vice versa, voiceless variants of voiced consonants, and several new runes also appeared for vowel sounds. Inscriptions in medieval Scandinavian runes show a large number of variant rune-forms, and some letters, such as ''s,'' ''c'' and ''z,'' were often used interchangeably.Jacobsen & Moltke, 1941–42, p. VIIWerner, 2004, p. 20 Medieval runes were in use until the 15th Century. Of the total number of Norwegian runic inscriptions preserved today, most are medieval runes. Notably, more than 600 inscriptions using these runes have been discovered in Bergen since the 1950s, mostly on wooden sticks (the so-called Bryggen Inscriptions ). This indicates that runes were in common use side by side with the Latin alphabet for several centuries. Indeed some of the medieval runic inscriptions are actually in Latin language. DALECARLIAN RUNES According to Carl-Gustav Werner, "in the isolated province of Dalarna in Sweden a mix of runes and Latin letters developed."(Werner 2004, p. 7) The Dalecarlian runes came into use in the early 16th Century and remained in some use up to the 20th Century. Some discussion remains on whether their use was an unbroken tradition throughout this period or whether people in the 19th and 20th centuries learned runes from books written on the subject. The character inventory was mainly used for transcribing Elfdalian . MODERN USE The Germanic runes have seen numerous usages in modern use, usually in association with or referencing Germanic Paganism . Occultism and Nazi Germany displayed two Sig Rune s.]] One of the important figures in Germanic Mysticism and runic revivalism in the late 19th and early 20th century was the Austrian occultist, mysticist and Völkisch author Guido Von List . In 1908, List published in ''Das Geheimnis der Runen'' ("The Secret of the Runes") a set of 18 so-called " Armanen Runes ", based on the Younger Futhark and runes of List's own introduction, which were allegedly revealed to him in a state of temporary blindness after a cataract operation on both eyes in 1902. Runes have been used in Nazi Symbolism by Nazis and Neo-Nazi groups that associate themselves with Germanic traditions, mainly the Sigal , Eihwaz , Tyr , Odal and Algiz runes. The fascination that runes seem to have exerted on the Nazis can be traced to Guido Von List . His rune row, however, was later rejected by the Nazis for that of the official Nazi runeologist Karl Maria Wiligut (''See Wiligut Runes ''). In Nazi contexts, the ''s''-rune is referred to as " Sig " (after List, probably from Anglo-Saxon Sigel). The " Wolfsangel ", while not a rune historically, has the shape of List's "Gibor" rune. Another modern day runic row is the Uthark commonly known through the work of the Swedish scholar and occultist Thomas Karlsson , founder of the ' Ordo Draconis Et Atri Adamantis ' (or Dragon Rouge ), and refers to them as the 'Night-side of the Runes'. This runic row and theory had however been the subject of an earlier study by the Swedish Philologist Sigurd Agrell {Link without Title} . Neopaganism and New Age As forms of Neopaganism can be quite different and have very different origins, recognition and usage of runes can vary considerably. As with Germanic Paganism in general, the runes are a major element in Germanic Neopaganism used for a wide variety of purposes in varying senses of Reconstructionism , depending on the type of group. New Agers and some Wiccans may also sometimes use runes under various (generally non-reconstructive) conditions, such as Divination . Modern popular culture Historical and fictional runes appear commonly in modern popular culture, particularly in fantasy literature, video games and various other forms of media. Such exist in the popular online game Runescape UNICODE Runic alphabets are assigned Unicode range 16A0–16FF. This block is intended to encode all shapes of runic letters. Each letter is encoded only once, regardless of the number of alphabets in which it occurs. The block contains 81 symbols: 75 runic letters (16A0–16EA), three punctuation marks (Runic Single Punctuation 16EB ᛫, Runic Multiple Punctuation 16EC ᛬ and Runic Cross Punctuation 16ED ᛭), and three runic symbols that are used in mediaeval calendar staves ("Golden number Runes", Runic Arlaug Symbol 16EE ᛮ, Runic Tvimadur Symbol 16EF ᛯ and Runic Belgthor Symbol 16F0 ᛰ). Characters 16F1–16FF are unassigned (as of Unicode Version 5.0). Unicode fonts that support the runic range include:
Table of runic letters (U+16A0–U+16EA): J.R.R TOLKIEN In the famous J.R.R Tolkien's novels, such as The Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings series he uses runes to interpret the writings on the maps SEE ALSO
Other scripts, reminiscent of, based on or related to runes:
NOTES REFERENCES
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