The 24 runes of the Elder Futhark

The Elder Futhark (or Older Futhark, Old Futhark) are the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic peoples for Proto-Norse and other Germanic dialects of the 2nd to 7th centuries for inscriptions on artefacts (jewellery, amulets, tools, weapons) and rune stones.

Inscription corpus

Artefacts with Old Futhark scripts are found from the Southern Europe up to Lappland but with highest concentrations in Denmark. They are usually short inscriptions on jewellery (bracteates, fibulae), utensils or weapons and found in graves or bogs. Words frequently appearing in inscriptions on bracteates with possibly magical significance are alu, laþu and laukaz. Their meaning is unclear, although alu has been associated with "ale, intoxicating drink", in a context of ritual drinking, and laukaz with "leek, garlic", in a context of fertility and growth. An example of a longer early inscription is on a 4th century axe-handle found in Nydam, Jutland: wagagastiz / alu:??hgusikijaz:aiþalataz (wagagaztiz "wave-guest" could be a personal name, the rest has been read as alu:wihgu sikijaz:aiþalataz with a putative meaning "wave/flame-guest, from a bog, alu, I, oath-sayer consecrate/fight". The obscurity even of emended readings is typical for runic inscriptions that go beyond simple personal names).

The oldest known runic inscription dates to ca. 160 AD and is found on a comb discovered in the bog of Vimose, Funen. The inscription reads harja, either a personal name or an epithet, c.f. Proto-Germanic *harjaz "warrior".

The longest surviving inscription in Older Futhark, and one of the youngest, consists of some 200 characters and is found on the early 8th century Eggjum stone, and may even contain a stanza of Old Norse poetry.

The alphabet

The Older Futhark (named after the initial phoneme of the first six rune names), sometimes also called proto-Nordic (urnordiska), consist of twenty-four runes, often arranged in three rows of eight. The earliest known full sequential listing of the alphabet dates to ca. 400 and is found on the Kylver Stone in Gotland. Another early inscription was found on the Vadstena bracteate:

ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ ᚷ ᚹ

ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ

ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛞ ᛟ

The letter values, and their common transliteration are: ᚠ [f], ᚢ [u], ᚦ [þ], ᚨ [a], ᚱ [r], ᚲ [k], ᚺ [h], ᚾ [n], ᛁ [i], ᛃ [j]; ᛇ [ï] ([ei]), ᛈ [p], ᛉ [R], ᛊ [s], ᛏ [t], ᛒ [b], ᛖ [e], ᛗ [m], ᛚ [l], ᛜ [ŋ], ᛞ [d], ᛟ [o].

Names

Each rune most probably had a name, chosen to represent the sounds of the rune itself. The names are, however, not directly attested for the Old Futhark themselves. Reconstructed names in Proto-Germanic have been suggested for them, 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.

• ᚠ fehu "wealth, cattle", see Fe (rune)
• ᚢ ûruz "aurochs" (or ûram "water / slag"?), see Ur (rune)Odal]]
• ᚦ thurisaz "giant"
• ᚨ ansuz "one of the Aesir" (or ahsam "ear (of corn)"?)
• ᚱ raidô "ride, journey"
• ᚲ kaunan "ulcer, illness", see Kaunan
• ᚷ gebô "gift"
• ᚹ wunjô "joy"
• ᚺ haglaz "hail"
• ᚾ naudiz "need"
• ᛁ îsaz "ice"
• ᛃ jera "year"
• ᛇ îgwaz / eihwaz "yew", see Eihwaz
• ᛈ perþô? "pear"?, see Peordh
• ᛉ algiz "elk"?, see Algiz
• ᛊ sôwilô "Sun"
• ᛏ tîwaz (a god), see Tyr
• ᛒ berkanan "birch"
• ᛖ ehwaz "horse"
• ᛗ mannaz "man", see Mannaz
• ᛚ laukaz "lake"
• ᛜ ingwaz (a god), see Yngvi
• ᛞ dagaz "day", see Dagr
• ᛟ ôþalan "estate, inheritance", see Odal

The rune names stood for their rune because of the first phoneme in the name (the principle of acrophony, with the exception of Ingwaz and Algiz: the Proto-Germanic z sound of the Algiz rune, never occurred in a word-initial position. The phoneme acquired an r-like quality in Proto-Norse, usually transcribed with R, und finally merged with r in Icelandic, rendering the rune superfluous as a letter. Similarly, the ng-sound of the Ingwaz rune does not occur word-initially.

Most names, in spite of being reconstructions, can be assumed with a fair degree of certainty for the Old Futhark because of the concurrence of Gothic, Anglo-Saxon and Nordic names. The names come from the vocabulary of daily life and mythology, some trivial, some beneficent and some inauspicious, that suggest that the use of the runes for divination is quite credible.

• Mythology: Tiwaz, Thurisaz, Ingwaz, God, Man, Sun.

• Nature and environment: Sun, day, year, hail, ice, lake, water, birch, yew, pear, elk, aurochs, ear (of corn).

• Daily life and human condition: Man, wealth/cattle, horse, estate/inheritance, slag, ride/journey, hail, year, gift, joy, need, ulcer/illness.

It has been observed, however, that the NATO phonetic alphabet, although hardly ever used for divination, shows a similar distribution of inherited names (Charlie, Juliet), unremarkable basic vocabulary (Hotel, Uniform) and concepts very much in vogue at the time of its invention (Radar, X-Ray, Foxtrot, Tango).

See also

• Proto-Norse
• Runic alphabet
• Rune poem
• Rune stone
• Golden horns of Gallehus
• Gothic alphabet

Reference

• Orrin W. Robinson Old English and its Closest Relatives: A Survey of the Earliest Germanic Languages Stanford University Press, 1992. ISBN 0804714541

External links

• the Futhark (ancientscripts.com)
• Runes around the North Sea and on the Continent AD 150-700 by J. H. Looijenga (dissertation, Groningen University)
• Runic Inscriptions by Yves Kodratoff