Younger Futhark inscription on the Vaksala Runestone

The Runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters (known as runes), formerly used to write Germanic languages before and shortly after the Christianization of Scandinavia and the British Isles. The Scandinavian variants are also known as Futhark (or fuþark, derived from their first six letters: F, U, Þ, A, R, and K); the Anglo-Saxon variant as Futhorc (due to sound changes undergone in Old English by the same six letters). The Ugaritic alphabet is a cuneiform abjad, used from around 1300 BC for the Ugaritic language, an extinct Canaanite language discovered in Ugarit, Syria. ... The Proto-Canaanite alphabet is an abjad of twenty-plus acrophonic glyphs, which is found in Levantine texts of the Late Bronze Age (from ca. ... The Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to begin with a cut-off date of 1050 BCE. It was used by the Phoenicians to write Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language. ... The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet is an offshoot of the Phoenician alphabet used to write the Hebrew language from about the 10th century BCE until it began to fall out of use in the 5th century BCE with the adoption of the Aramaic alphabet as a writing system for Hebrew and... Bilingual inscription (Greek and Aramaic) by the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great, 3rd century BC. The Aramaic alphabet is an abjad alphabet designed for writing the Aramaic language. ... Variation of BrāhmÄ« with dates. ... The Brahmic family is a family of abugidas (writing systems) used in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Tibet, Mongolia, Manchuria. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... This article or section uses Khmer characters which may be rendered as boxes or other nonsensical symbols. ... Javanese script is the script that Javanese is originally written in (not to be confused with Javascript, which is a programming language). ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... 11th century book in Syriac Serto. ... The Nabatean alphabet is a consonantal alphabet (abjad) that was used by the Nabateans in the 2nd century BC. Important inscriptions are found in Petra. ... The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and others. ... The Pahlavi script was used broadly in the Sasanid Persian Empire to write down Middle Persian for secular, as well as religious purposes. ... The Avestan alphabet was created in the 3rd century AD for writing the hymns of Zarathustra (a. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ...   The Gothic alphabet is an alphabetic writing system attributed by Philostorgius to Wulfila, used exclusively for writing the ancient Gothic language. ... The Glagolitic alphabet or Glagolitsa is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (pronounced also called azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is actually a family of alphabets, subsets of which are used by certain Slavic languages — Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Rusyn, Serbian, and Ukrainian—as well as many other languages of the former Soviet Union... The Samaritan alphabet is a direct descendant of the paleo-Hebrew variety of the Phoenician alphabet, the more commonly known Hebrew alphabet having been adapted from the Aramaic alphabet under the Persian Empire. ... Photograph of Botorrita 1 (both sides), 1st century BC. The Iberian scripts (or Iberian alphabet) are two scripts (or two styles of the same script) found on the Iberian peninsula, the Northeast and South Iberian script. ... The ancient South Arabian alphabet (also known as musnad) branched from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet in ca. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... The Meroitic script is an alphabet of Egyptian (Hieroglyphic) origin used in Kingdom of Meroë. Some scholars, e. ... Jamo redirects here. ... Zhuyin fuhao (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Tongyong Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chu-yin fu-hao), or Symbols for Annotating Sounds, often abbreviated as Zhuyin, or known as Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) after the first four letters of this Chinese phonemic alphabet (bo po mo fo), is the national phonetic system of the... Nearly all the segmental scripts (alphabets, but see below for more precise terminology) used around the globe were apparently derived from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet. ... ABCs redirects here, for the Alien Big Cats, see British big cats. ... The Germanic languages are a group of related languages constituting a branch of the Indo-European (IE) language family. ... By Germanic Christianity is that phase in the history of Northern Europe understood, when the Germanic peoples of the Migration period and Viking Age adopted Christianity. ... For other uses, see Scandinavia (disambiguation). ... This article describes the archipelago in north-Western Europe. ... Þþ Thorn, or þorn (Þ, þ), is a letter in the Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic alphabets. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon[1], Old English: ) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ...

Overview

The earliest runic inscriptions date from c150CE, and the alphabet was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet with Christianization, by c700CE in central Europe and by c1100CE 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 calendars). The three best known runic alphabets are: Look up Circa on Wiktionary, the free dictionary The Latin word circa, literally meaning about, is often used to describe various dates (often birth and death dates) that are uncertain. ... The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... St Francis Xavier converting the Paravas: a 19th-century image of the docile heathen The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting pagan practices, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... There is also Norwegian region called Dalane. ... Runic calendar - Norwegian - carved wood. ...

• the Elder Futhark (c150–800CE)
• the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (400–1100CE)
• the Younger Futhark (800–1100CE)

The Younger Futhark is further divided into: Note: This article contains special characters. ... The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc are a runic alphabet, extended from the Elder Futhark, consisting of 29, and later even 33 characters. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ...

• the long-branch runes (also called Danish, although they were also used in Norway and Sweden)
• the short-twig or Rök Runes (also called Swedish-Norwegian, although they were also used in Denmark)
• the Hälsinge Runes (staveless runes)

The Younger Futhark developed further into:

• the Marcomannic Runes
• the Medieval Runes (1100–1500CE)
• the Dalecarlian Runes (c1500–c1800CE)

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 alphabets, 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. (help· info) is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. ... The 5th century BC started the first day of 500 BC and ended the last day of 401 BC. // The Parthenon of Athens seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ... (Redirected from 1st century BCE) (2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century - other centuries) The 1st century BC starts on January 1, 100 BC and ends on December 31, 1 BC. An alternative name for this century is the last century BC. (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Lepontic is an extinct Celtic language that was once spoken in Northern Italy between 700 BCE and 400 BCE. The language is only known from a few inscriptions discovered that were written in a variety of the Northern Italic alphabet, which was related to the Old Italic alphabet. ... Raetic is an obscure language of antiquity, which used to be spoken in the eastern Alps, to the north and west of Venetic. ... Raetic is an obscure language of antiquity, which used to be spoken in the province of Raetia, in the eastern Alps, to the north and west of Venetic. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ...

Background

Inscription using both cipher runes, 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (515x920, 90 KB)my own pic for wikipedia. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (515x920, 90 KB)my own pic for wikipedia. ... The Rök Runestone features tent runes in its uppermost row. ... A black-and-white rendition of the text on one side of the Rök Stone. ... The term Germanic tribes (or Teutonic tribes) applies to the ancient Germanic peoples of Europe. ... Centuries: 1st century - 2nd century - 3rd century Decades: 110s - 120s - 130s - 140s - 150s - 160s - 170s - 180s - 190s - 200s - 210s 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 Execution of Justin Martyr, Rome Date of earliest finds of Elder Futhark inscriptions in Vimose Marcomannic Wars Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor. ... Funen (Danish: Fyn) is the third largest island of Denmark, it has a population of 445,000 people. ... The Meldorf fibula is a Germanic fibula found in Meldorf, Schleswig-Holstein in 1979, dated to the mid to late 1st century AD (viz. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A North Germanic language is any of several Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Finland and on the islands west of Scandinavia. ... West Germanic is the largest branch of the Germanic family of languages, including such languages as English, Dutch, and German. ... The tribes referred to as East Germanic constitute a wave of migrants who moved from Scandinavia into the area between the Oder and Vistula rivers between 600 - 300 BC. In historical times these tribes were differentiated as Goths, Burgundians and Vandals among others. ...

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 labiovelars in the Elder Futhark (such signs were introduced in both the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc and the Gothic alphabet as variants of p; see peorð.) A labiovelar sound is one produced with the lips and velum simultaneously. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ...   The Gothic alphabet is an alphabetic writing system attributed by Philostorgius to Wulfila, used exclusively for writing the ancient Gothic language. ... ᛈ is the rune denoting the sound p in the Old Futhark runic alphabet, in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem named peorð. It does not appear in the Younger Futhark. ...

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".) Area settled by the Alamanni, and sites of Roman-Alamannic battles, 3rd to 6th century The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of west Germanic tribes located around the upper Main, a river that is one of the largest tributaries of the Rhine, on land that is today... composite photograph of the inscription The Einang stone (Einangsteinen) is a rune stone near Fagernes, Norway. ...

Origins

Mythological

In old Scandinavian belief, the runes were of divine origin (Old Norse: reginkunnr) and this is attested as early as on the c. 600 AD Noleby Runestone (Runo fahi raginakundo toj[e'k]a... meaning "I prepare the suitable divine rune ..."^[1]) 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"^[2]). More notably, in Hávamál, stanza 80, the runes are also described as reginkunnr: Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ... The Noleby Runestone, Fyrunga Runestone or Vg 63 is a rune stone in Proto-Norse which is engraved with the Elder Futhark. ... As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was the century that lasted from 801 to 900. ... The Sparlösa Runestone in Västergötland is the second most famous Swedish runestone after the Rök Runestone. ... Hávamál (Sayings of Hár, Sayings of the high one) is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. ...

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: For other meanings of Odin, Woden or Wotan see Odin (disambiguation), Woden (disambiguation), Wotan (disambiguation). ... Marcus Aurelius and members of the Imperial family offer sacrifice in gratitude for success against Germanic tribes: contemporary bas-relief, Capitoline Museum, Rome For other uses, see Sacrifice (disambiguation). ... Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ...

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. Ríg is the name applied to a Norse god described as old and wise, mighty and strong in the Eddic poem Rígthula (Old Norse Rígþula - Song of Ríg). ... Look up Rig in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Heimdall returns Brisingamen to Freya Heimdall (Old Norse Heimdallr, the prefix Heim- means world, the affix -dallr is of uncertain origin, perhaps it means pole, bright, or valley) is one of the Æsir in Norse mythology. ... Events Russia breaks 60 year old truce with Sweden by attacking Finland February 2 - Diet of Augsburg begins February 4 - John Rogers becomes first Protestant martyr in England February 9 - Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper is burned at the stake May 23 - Paul IV becomes Pope. ... Olaus Magnus, or Magni (Magnus, Latin for the Swedish Stora -- great -- is the family name, and not a personal epithet), reported as born in October 1490 in Linköping, and died on August 1, 1557, was a Swedish ecclesiastic and writer, who did pioneering work for the interest of Nordic... Kettil Runske was according to Olaus Magnus Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555) a man who brought the runes to man, by stealing three rune staffs from Odin and from which he learnt the runes. ...

Historical

Main article: Elder Futhark

Codex Runicus, 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 Phoenician origin (Latin, Greek, Italic) that cannot possibly all be due to chance; an Old Italic alphabet, more particularly the Raetic alphabet of Bolzano, is often quoted as a candidate for the origin of the runes, with only five Elder Futhark runes ( ᛖ e, ᛇ ï, ᛃ j, ᛜ ŋ, ᛈ p) having no counterpart in the Bolzano alphabet (Mees 2000). This hypothesis is often denied by Scandinavian scholars, who usually favour a Latin origin for most or all of the runic letters (Odenstedt 1990; Williams 1996); cf. [1]. An Old Italic or "North Etruscan" thesis is supported by the inscription on the Negau helmet 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). Note: This article contains special characters. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 409 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (775 × 1135 pixel, file size: 230 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Subject: AM 28 8vo, known as Codex runicus, a vellum manuscript from c. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 409 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (775 × 1135 pixel, file size: 230 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Subject: AM 28 8vo, known as Codex runicus, a vellum manuscript from c. ... The Codex Runicus is one of the few runic texts found on parchment. ... The oldest known vernacular manuscript (B74) of the Scanian Law and the Scanian Ecclesiastical Law, dated to c. ... The Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to begin with a cut-off date of 1050 BCE. It was used by the Phoenicians to write Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Raetic is an obscure language of antiquity, which used to be spoken in the province of Raetia, in the eastern Alps, to the north and west of Venetic. ... Bolzano (Italian Bolzano; German: Bozen, archaic Botzen; Ladin: Bulsan; Latin: Bauzanum; many of the regions Italian languages/dialects use Bolzan or Bulsan) is a city in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region of Italy. ... The Negau helmet usually refers to one of 28 bronze helmets from the 5th century BS, found in a cache in Negau, present Zenjak, in Slovenia on which is inscribed, in the Etruscan alphabet harigastiz fefakit. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 2nd century BC started on January 1, 200 BC and ended on December 31, 101 BC. // Coin of Antiochus IV. Reverse shows Apollo seated on an omphalos. ...

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 Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... The Duenos inscription, as recorded by Heinrich Dressel. ...

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 Scandinavian 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.^[5] Since names ending in -io reflect Germanic morphology representing the Latin ending -ius, and the suffix -inius was reflected by Germanic -inio- ^[6], 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."^[7] 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 Northwest Germanic unity preceding the emergence of Proto-Norse proper from roughly the 5th century^[8]. An alternative suggestion explaining the impossibility to classify the earliest inscriptions as either North or West Germanic is forwarded by È. A. Makaev, who assumes a "special runic koine", 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.^[9] West Germanic is the largest branch of the Germanic family of languages, including such languages as English, Dutch, and German. ... The Germanic (also, Teutonic) peoples are the nations speaking Germanic languages, idioms descended from Proto-Germanic (spoken during the final centuries BC, the Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe). ... Finds from Vimose, Funen include some of the very oldest datable Elder Futhark inscriptions in late Proto-Germanic or early Proto-Norse (2nd to 3rd centuries AD). ... For other uses, see Scandinavia (disambiguation). ... Proto-Norse, Proto-Nordic, Ancient Nordic or Proto-North Germanic was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved from Proto-Germanic between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century, and was spoken until ca 800, when it evolved into the Old Norse language. ... The Vangiones were a tribe of the Belgae originally from the Upper Rhine valley. ... Among the Germanic tribes in Gaul mentioned by Tacitus in his Germania were the Harii. ... Northwest Germanic is a proposed grouping of the Germanic dialects. ... Proto-Norse, Proto-Nordic, Ancient Nordic or Proto-North Germanic was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved from Proto-Germanic between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century, and was spoken until ca 800, when it evolved into the Old Norse language. ... The literal meaning of the Greek word koine (κοινή) is common. It is used in several senses: Koiné Greek (Κοινή Ἑλληνική), a Greek dialect that developed from the Attic dialect (of Athens) and became the spoken language of Greece at the time of the Empire of Alexander the Great. ...

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. A modified variant of the Kylver inscription, on the original inscription some letters are mirrored, a few features missing and it also includes an unknown rune and an additional small inscription. ...

Magic and Divination

The Björketorp Runestone. It is 4.2 m tall.

In the Ljóðatal section of the Hávamál, the runes are attributed with the power to bring that which is dead to life:- Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1728x2304, 1468 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Runic alphabet Björketorp Runestone Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1728x2304, 1468 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Runic alphabet Björketorp Runestone Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Hávamál (Sayings of Hár, Sayings of the high one) is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. ...

The earliest runic inscriptions were certainly not coherent texts of any length, but simple markings on artifacts (e.g. bracteates, 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: A bracteate (from the Latin bractea, a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold coin produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age, but the name is also used for later produced coins of silver produced in Central Europe during... Not to be confused with Magic (illusion). ... For other uses, see Divination (disambiguation). ... The Runestone The Björketorp Runestone (DR 360 U) in Blekinge, Sweden, is part of a grave field which includes menhirs, both solitary and forming stone circles. ... Proto-Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Ancient Nordic or Proto-North Germanic was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved from Proto-Germanic between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century, and was spoken until ca 800, when it evolved into the Old...

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.^[10]

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. The Stentoften Runestone (DR 357 U) is a runestone which contains a curse in Proto-Norse, and the runestone was discovered in 1823 by the dean O. Hammer. ... The Franks Casket (or the Auzon Runic Casket) is a little whalebone chest, dateable from its pagan elements to the early 7th century, decorated with images and Futhorc runic inscriptions. ...

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. Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ...

The first source, Tacitus' Germania, describes "signs" chosen in groups of three. For other uses, see Tacitus (disambiguation). ... Map of the Roman Empire and Germania Magna in the early 2nd century, with the location of some Germanic tribes as described by Tacitus. ...

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 Ynglinga saga was originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. ... Granmar was a king of Södermanland, in Snorri Sturlusons Heimskringla. ... (frequently shortened to Sörmland in Sweden, particularly locally) is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. ... Gamla Uppsala is an area rich in archaeological remains seen from the grave field whose larger mounds (left part) are close to the royal mounds. ... The Blót was the pagan Germanic sacrifice to Norse gods and Elves. ...

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. Rimbert (or Rembert), archbishop in Hamburg-Bremen between 865 - 888 AD. Revered as a saint particularly in Friesland. ... Vita Ansgari, the biography of Ansgar, written by Rimbert, his successor as archbishop in Hamburg-Bremen. ... Anund Uppsale or Anoundus ruled Sweden together with his brother Björn at Hauge, according to Rimbert and Hervarar saga (he and Björn are also mentioned by Adam of Bremen). ... Location in Sweden During the Viking Age, Birka or Birca  , on the island of Björkö (also Bierkø, literally: Birch Island) in Sweden, was an important trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient. ...

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). Divination according to Ralph Blum in progress The Elder Futhark may well have been used for magical and occult purposes historically; 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. ...

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

Church bell from Saleby, Västergötland, Sweden, containing an inscription from 1228 in the Runic alphabet

Some later runic finds are on monuments (rune stones), 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. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Church bell from Saleby, Västergötland, Sweden containing an inscription from 1228 in the Runic alphabet A church bell is a bell which is rung in a (especially Christian) church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding... Saleby is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. ...   is one of the historical provinces of Sweden (landskap), situated in the southwest of Sweden. ... A rune stone in Lund Rune stones are stones with runic inscriptions dating from the early Middle Ages but are found to have been used most prominently during the Viking Age. ...

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. The Bryggen inscriptions are a find of some 600 runic inscriptions on wood (mostly pine) and bone found from 1955 and forth at Bryggen (and its surroundings) in Bergen, Norway. ... County Hordaland District Midhordland Municipality NO-1201 Administrative centre Bergen Mayor (2004) Herman Friele (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 215 465 km² 445 km² 0. ... For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ...

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. Runic calendar - Norwegian - carved wood. ...

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. Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. ... Very few Elder Futhark inscriptions in the Gothic language have been found in the territory historically settled by the Goths (Wielbark culture, Chernyakhov culture). ... Tyr rune The t-rune ᛏ is named after Tyr, and was identified with this god. ... The d-rune (Unicode U+16DE ) is called Daeg day in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem. ...   The Gothic alphabet is an alphabetic writing system attributed by Philostorgius to Wulfila, used exclusively for writing the ancient Gothic language. ... This article is about the scholar Alcuin of York. ... Very few Elder Futhark inscriptions in the Gothic language have been found in the territory historically settled by the Goths (Wielbark culture, Chernyakhov culture). ...

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 diphthongs 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. In phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds, or with two tones) is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... A North Germanic language is any of several Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Finland and on the islands west of Scandinavia. ...

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 bracteates. Anglo-Saxon Futhorc-inscriptions number around 100 items. Viking Age is the term denoting the years from about 800 to 1066 in Scandinavian History[1][2][3]. // The Vikings have been much maligned in European history, due in large part to their violent attacks on Christians in the first centuries of their excursions out of Scandinavia. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... The Bryggen inscriptions are a find of some 600 runic inscriptions on wood (mostly pine) and bone found from 1955 and forth at Bryggen (and its surroundings) in Bergen, Norway. ... County Hordaland District Midhordland Municipality NO-1201 Administrative centre Bergen Mayor (2004) Herman Friele (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 215 465 km² 445 km² 0. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... A bracteate (from the Latin bractea, a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold coin produced in Northern Europe predominantly during the Migration Period of the Germanic Iron Age, but the name is also used for later produced coins of silver produced in Central Europe during... The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc are a runic alphabet, extended from the Elder Futhark, consisting of 29, and later even 33 characters. ...

The following table lists the number of known inscriptions (in any alphabet variant) by geographical region:^{[citation needed]}

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. Satellite view of the German Bight (the Frisian Coast). ... The Faroe Islands (Faroese: Føroyar, meaning Sheep Islands) are a group of islands in the north Atlantic Ocean between Scotland and Iceland. ... Maes Howe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney (off northern Scotland). ... Location Geography Area Ranked 16th  - Total 990 km²  - % Water  ? Admin HQ Kirkwall ISO 3166-2 GB-ORK ONS code 00RA Demographics Population Ranked 32nd  - Total (2005) 19,590  - Density 20 / km² Scottish Gaelic  - Total () {{{Scottish council Gaelic Speakers}}} Politics Orkney Islands Council http://www. ... Maeshowe Maeshowe Entrance Maeshowe (or Maes Howe) is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. ...

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 transliterations are: Note: This article contains special characters. ... Proto-Norse, Proto-Nordic, Ancient Nordic or Proto-North Germanic was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved from Proto-Germanic between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century, and was spoken until ca 800, when it evolved into the Old Norse language. ... A modified variant of the Kylver inscription, on the original inscription some letters are mirrored, a few features missing and it also includes an unknown rune and an additional small inscription. ...   is a county, province and municipality of Sweden and the second largest island in the Baltic Sea after Zealand. ... Transliteration is the practice of transcribing a word or text written in one writing system into another writing system. ...

f	u	þ	a	r	k	g	w
h	n	i	j	ï	p	z	s
t	b	e	m	l	ŋ	d	o

Image File history File links Runic_letter_fehu. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_uruz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_thurisaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_ansuz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_raido. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_kauna. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_gebo. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_wunjo. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_haglaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_naudiz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_isaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_jeran. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_iwaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_pertho. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_algiz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_sowilo. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_tiwaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_berkanan. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_ehwaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_mannaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_laukaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_ingwaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_dagaz. ... Image File history File links Runic_letter_othalan. ...

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^{[citation needed]}, based on the names given for runes of the later alphabets in the rune poems and the names of the letters of the Gothic alphabet. Look up Hypothesis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The rune poems list the letters of a runic alphabet with a short verse characterizing each one. ...   The Gothic alphabet is an alphabetic writing system attributed by Philostorgius to Wulfila, used exclusively for writing the ancient Gothic language. ...

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"