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.
Nevertheless, the fact that the Younger Futhark has 16 runes, while the Elder Futhark
has 24, is not fully explained by the some 600 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 approximately AD 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.
Some later runic finds are on monuments (runestones), which often contain solemn
inscriptions about people who died or performed great deeds. For a long time it was
presumed 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.
In the mid-1950s, however, approximately 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
natureranging from name tags, prayers (often in Latin), personal messages, business
letters, and expressions of affection, to bawdy phrases of a profane and sometimes even
of a vulgar nature. Following this find, it is nowadays commonly presumed that, at least
in late use, Runic was a widespread and common writing system.
In the later Middle Ages, runes also were used in the Clog almanacs (sometimes called
Runic staff, Prim, or Scandinavian calendar) of Sweden and Estonia. The authenticity
of some monuments bearing Runic inscriptions found in Northern America is disputed;
most of them have been dated to modern times.
Runes in Eddic lore[edit]
In Norse mythology, the runic alphabet is attested to a divine origin (Old Norse:
reginkunnr). This is attested as early as on the Noleby Runestone from approximately
600 AD that reads Runo fahi raginakundo toj[e'k]a..., meaning "I prepare the suitable
divine rune..."[28] and in an attestation from the 9th century on the Sparlsa Runestone,
which reads Ok ra runaR aR rgi[n]kundu, meaning "And interpret the runes of
divine origin".[29] More notably, in the Poetic Edda poem Hvaml, Stanza 80, the runes
also are described as reginkunnr:
at er reynt,
er a rnum spyrr
That is now proved,
what you asked of the runes,
inum reginkunnum,
eim er geru ginnregin
ok fi fimbululr,
hefir hann bazt, ef hann egir.[20]
of the potent famous ones,
which the great gods made,
and the mighty sage stained,
that it is best for him if he stays silent.[30]
The poem Hvaml explains that the originator of the runes was the major deity, Odin.
Stanza 138 describes how Odin received the runes through self-sacrifice:
Veit ek at ek hekk vindga meii a
netr allar no,
geiri vndar ok gefinn Oni,
sialfr sialfom mer,
a eim meii, er mangi veit, hvers hann
af rtom renn.
I know that I hung on a windy tree
nine long nights,
wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,
myself to myself,
on that tree of which no man knows from
where its roots run.[31]
In stanza 139, Odin continues:
Vi hleifi mik seldo ne vi hornigi,
nysta ek nir,
nam ek vp rvnar,
opandi nam,
fell ek aptr aan.
No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn,
downwards I peered;
I took up the runes,
screaming I took them,
then I fell back from there.[31]
This passage has been interpreted as a mythical representation of shamanic initial rituals
in which the initiate must undergo a physical trial in order to receive mystic wisdom.[32]
In the Poetic Edda poem Rgsula another origin is related of how the runic alphabet
became known to humans. The poem relates how Rg, identified as Heimdall in the
introduction, sired three sons (Thrall (slave), Churl (freeman), and Jarl (noble)) by
human women. These sons became the ancestors of the three classes of humans
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.
Runic alphabets[edit]
Elder Futhark (2nd to 8th centuries)[edit]
Detail of the Elder Futhark inscription on a replica of one of the 5th-century AD Golden
Horns of Gallehus found in Denmark
Main article: Elder Futhark
The Elder Futhark, used for writing Proto-Norse, consists of 24 runes that often are
arranged in three groups of eight; each group is referred to as an tt. The earliest
known sequential listing of the full set of 24 runes dates to approximately CE 400 and is
found on the Kylver Stone in Gotland, Sweden.
Most probably each rune 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 produced, based on the names given
for the runes in the later alphabets attested in the rune poems and the linked names of
the letters of the Gothic alphabet. The letter /a/ was named from the runic letter called
Ansuz. An asterisk before the rune names means that they are unattested
reconstructions. The 24 Elder Futhark runes are:[33]
Rune UCS Transliteration IPA
Proto-Germanic
name
Meaning
/f/
/u()/ ?*ruz
"aurochs" (or *ram
"water/slag"?)
//, // ?*urisaz
"the god Thor, giant"
/a()/ *ansuz
"one of the sir (gods)"
/r/
*raid
"ride, journey"
k (c)
/k/
?*kaunan
"ulcer"? (or *kenaz "torch"?)
//
*geb
"gift"
/w/
*wunj
"joy"
/h/
*hagalaz
"hail" (the precipitation)
/n/
*naudiz
"need"
/i()/
*saz
"ice"
/j/
*jra-
"year, good year, harvest"
()
*fehu
//(?) *(h)waz/*ei(h)waz
/p/
?*per-
"wealth, cattle"
"yew-tree"
meaning unclear, perhaps
"pear-tree".
/z/
?*algiz
unclear, possibly "elk".
/s/
*swil
"Sun"
/t/
*twaz/*teiwaz
"the god Tiwaz"
/b/
*berkanan
"birch"
e
m
/e()/ *ehwaz
/m/
*mannaz
/l/
*laguz
//
*ingwaz
o
d
/o()/ *ila-/*ala/d/
*dagaz
"horse"
"Man"
"water, lake" (or possibly
*laukaz "leek")
"the god Ingwaz"
"heritage, estate, possession"
"day"
Anglo-Saxon runes (5th to 11th centuries)[edit]
Main article: Anglo-Saxon runes
The Anglo-Saxon Fuorc
The futhorc are an extended alphabet, consisting of 29, and later, even 33 characters. It
probably was used from the 5th century onward. There are competing theories as to the
origins of the Anglo-Saxon Fuorc. 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 fuorc 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 gives the following characters and names: 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 features the additional letters cweorth, calc, cealc, and
stan. These additional letters have only been found in manuscripts. Feoh, orn, and sigel
stood for [f], [], and [s] 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 [g] and [w] in Middle English.
"Marcomannic runes" (8th to 9th centuries)[edit]
Marcomannic runes
A runic alphabet consisting of a mixture of Elder Futhark with Anglo-Saxon futhorc is
recorded in a treatise called De Inventione Litterarum, ascribed to Hrabanus Maurus and
preserved in 8th- and 9th-century manuscripts mainly from the southern part of the
Carolingian Empire (Alemannia, Bavaria). The manuscript text attributes the runes to
the Marcomanni, quos nos Nordmannos vocamus, and hence traditionally, the alphabet
is called "Marcomannic runes", but it has no connection with the Marcomanni, and
rather is an attempt of Carolingian scholars to represent all letters of the Latin alphabets
with runic equivalents.
Wilhelm Grimm discussed these runes in 1821.[34]
Younger Futhark (9th to 11th centuries)[edit]
Main article: Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark: long-branch runes and short-twig runes
While also featuring a runic inscription detailing the erection of a bridge for a loved
one, the 11th-century Ramsung carving is a Sigurd stone that depicts the legend of
Sigurd.
The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian Futhark, 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 is a matter of controversy. A general opinion is that
the difference between them was functional (i.e., the long-branch runes were used for
documentation on stone, whereas the short-branch runes were in everyday use for
private or official messages on wood).
Medieval runes (12th to 15th centuries)[edit]
Main article: Medieval runes
Medieval runes
A church bell from Saleby, Vstergtland, Sweden, containing a runic inscription from
1228 AD
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 often were used interchangeably.
[35][36]
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 written in Latin language.
Dalecarlian runes (16th to 19th centuries)[edit]
Main article: Dalecarlian runes
Dalecarlian runes
According to Carl-Gustav Werner, "In the isolated province of Dalarna in Sweden a mix
of runes and Latin letters developed."[37] 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 used mainly for transcribing Elfdalian.
Academic study[edit]
Main article: Runology
The modern study of runes was initiated during the Renaissance, by Johannes Bureus
(15681652). Bureus viewed runes as holy or magical in a kabbalistic sense. The study
of runes was continued by Olof Rudbeck Sr (16301702) and presented in his collection
Atlantica. Anders Celsius (170144) further extended the science of runes and travelled
around the whole of Sweden to examine the runstenar (runestones). From the "golden
age of philology" in the 19th century, runology formed a specialized branch of
Germanic linguistics.
Body of inscriptions[edit]
Main article: Runic inscriptions
The Vimose Comb from the island of Funen, Denmark, features the earliest known
runic inscription (AD 150 to 200) and simply reads, "Harja", a male name.[38]
The largest group of surviving Runic inscription are Viking Age
