Hi all,

I found a really cool runestone in the small town of Gimo in Sweden. I made a video about it where the runic inscription has been explained. Please take a look at it and let me know what you think!

I am making book for self use and want to make a depiction of yggdrasil connected to the 9 realms and wanted to know if the runes I have seen (Jera for Midgard for example) would be an acceptable and true way to represent it, having trouble find historical evidence so open to ideas and discussions

My last question in this sub reddit was answered very well.

I am hoping to get more insight on this rune now. I know it stands for the god ingwaz, is there more to this character like the others?

What are the interpretations of this character?

Would this be the correct way to spell Thrudvangar (“Fields of Strength” - Thor’s realm) using the Younger Futhark? I would imagine a Tyr for the end of the first syllable is the only option - unless it’s another Thurs? I usually see it written in English with an Eth there, but the YF didn’t have an Eth (it had a “stung” Thurs when the dots came into play, but that was post Viking Age, right?). Fe for a “v” sound and Kaun for the “g” are no-other-choicers, but should the vowel after the Fe be Ar (like in the pic) or Oss? And I’m totally lost on when a terminal “r” should be Yr (like in the pic) as opposed to a normal Reid. Is it always Yr when it ends a word, or only to signal certain cases (i.e., it would be a normal Reid if the word is in the nominative)?

this is my attempt of combining three runes into one "sigil" if you would call it that. the runes are Ansuz, Algiz and Gebo

your thoughts on this kind of usage? is it disrespectful? is it misuse? (if not, is there a way to improve it?)

(sry not eng speaker)

To begin with, I will say as a warning that I personally was previously interested in runes only in the context of studying the Gothic language of the period of Gothic runic inscriptions that preceded the Gothic alphabet of Wulfilla, so you should not expect from me a good knowledge of the Edda or runic writing of different times and tribes. And I won’t articulate my interest in too much detail, because I’m not sure that anyone will even notice my post.

So I'll try to be brief. I am particularly interested in clarification of the following aspects:

We know that there are not many historical monuments that have been proven to depict the magical use of runes. Basically, they can all be listed in the relevant reference books. Personally, I began my journey on this topic with Klaus Düwel's book „Runenkunde“, which gives a fairly comprehensive list of findings related to the various purposes and uses of runes, right up to the writing of Latin Catholic prayers in runic script during the Christianization of Scandinavia and even the late Middle Ages.

However, there is another cluster of literature that has little to do with linguistics, archeology or history, and more to do with describing the mythoritual and magical significance of the use of runescripts. I’ve been perfunctorily familiar with the works of Freya Aswynn, Geza von Nemenyi, Ralph Bloom and, of course, Guido von List, but much of it reads like a historical novel/fiction with frivolous conclusions from a biased study of folklore and a desperate desire to put into practice one’s subjective perception of everyday superstitions and magic. I have nothing against practitioners, „Erilaz“, and so on, however, I would like to clear for myself modern fiction from the real historical experience of the magical use of runes, which was attested, and not „recreated“ by some later spiritualists, alchemists, occultists and neo-pagans from the 17th-19th centuries to nowadays neo-[insert subculture]s. I find the above works, with the exception of those by Klaus Düwel, to be completely unsubstantiated, with a lack of scientific basis and references. So I’m asking if anyone could recommend me some researches on this matter, entirely devoted to historically reliable evidence and instructions on the use of runes for magical purposes, and on the philosophy, methodology, motives, and ideology of their use? Because I don’t believe in everyday, materialistic and primitive purposes for using them. I have my own experience of interacting with these also “oracular” systems in a completely different way.

I hope for your understanding. Feel free to write in my PM‘s, as the post will most likely go unnoticed, and I will therefore delete it.

The Bække Monument is a special place in Danish history and a beautiful sign of cultural continuity.

One place collects two gravemounds from the Bronze Age, a grave setting from Viking Age: a stone outline of a burial ship, graves and a runestone (Bække 2), and remains of a medieval main cargo road (Hærvejen).

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One of the two gravemounds in the background

View from the gravemound: remains of a viking ship burial

The runestone has the inscription: ᚼᚱᛁᛒᚾᚬ:ᚴᛏᚢᛒᛁ:ᚴᚱᛁᚢᚴᚢᛒᚦᛋᛁ:ᛅᚠᛏ:ᚢᛁᛒᚱᚢᚴ:ᛘᚦᚢ:ᛋᛁᚾ. This is rendered into modern Danish as "Ravnunge-Tue gjorde disse kumler [mindesmærker] efter sin moder Vibrog" and English: "Ravnunge-Tue made these monuments for his mother Vibrog".

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Bække 2 runestone

Road sign leading to the monument

Hamborggårdstenen is a glaciar boulder. Some 15000 years ago, as the glaciers were retreating north over Scandinavia duringLast Glacial Period, they left huge stones, such as this one. The stone is almost 3 metres high and even larger in width, summing up to 20 cubic metres and 50 tons.

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According to Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum (History of the Danes), Harald Bluetooth was trying to get this stone carried to Jelling by his men, to set it up in memory of his mother. But then he heard that his son Svein Forkbeard had rebelled against him, and was forced to leave the stone and flee. A legend also claims that a king in the old days dragged the stone from the North Sea to use it for a memorial.

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Notably, there are other Viking-Age monuments worth visiting very close (walking distance!) from Hamborggårdstenen: Klabæk Høje, Bække stone 1 and 2, Læborg stone.

Source: https://www.geus.dk/udforsk-geologien/ture-i-naturen/kaempesten/hamborggaardsstenen/

Do you believe Saxo Grammaticus' story? Could it really have been planned for another Jelling stone?

https://preview.redd.it/vd3rypwpwqoc1.jpg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e35fa24a7a5b8c62d8d92c846dfb7b67c4ddbfce

So the /ee/ sound in "me" uses an I, spelled in English as mi The hard /I/ uses ᛡ. Phonetically in English as maight (might) What is the difference between ᛇ and ᛖ?? I've been told they're both analogues for modern E sounds but it's quite unclear. I know the E sound in trek or Becky wasn't in the Anglo Saxon dialect so I'm trying to figure out how it all fits.

Transcription: We have been shaftumbeseting the fiend for 5 days now. They have still not yet yiven/given up. I rime 500 of their men have already died.

Notes:

I like to use the old Cen & sigel runes.

This is writen in Anglish. (r/anglish)

This is based off of Hurlebattes system of writeing modern English in Futhorc. (Younger Futhorc)

It's rough looking, I don't have a proper set of tools and just used a pumpkin carving kit

Tiwaz for protecting and justice Uruz for strength and vitality A bind rune combining the two, to reinforce the qualities of both

I want to touch it up once I have better tools, and maybe some paint.

I’m in Iceland rn and saw a very interesting shape labeled volcano in a tattoo shop, but upon looking up “volcano rune” I found nothing. I can’t appear to get any closer to volcano than Kenaz, but it seems to be more passion-focused than actual fire. Is there something I’m missing or confused by? I’ve always been amazed by volcanoes and honestly have been thinking about getting something like it tattooed while I’m here but I want to be sure I’m getting something authentic and not an artistic interpretation. Thanks y’all!

How is it possible that ᛣ can stand for a k sound in the Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet, but a palatal r sound in the Norse one? They seem like very different sounds. Could someone explain the sound changes that led to this?

Rune noob here. I'm wondering which form of the suwilo rune is more common/accurate in the elder futhark? Are they both correct and/or interchangeable?

Hi r/runes!

I would like to invite you to check out the new mobile app Litiluism (ᛚᛁᛏᛁᛚᚢᛁᛌᛙ) to build up your proficiency in reading runic inscriptions.

Features

The main offering of my app are transliteration exercises based on well-known runic inscriptions from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Faroe Islands and Iceland.

For beginners, there are short introductory lessons and futhark exercises (one rune at a time memory game).

How is Litiluism different from dozens of other rune apps?

All content in the app is backed by such sources as books by Michael Barnes and Martin Findell, museum descriptions and oftentimes plaques found in the wild next to the respective rune stones!

In other words, the main focus of the app has always been historical accuracy (except for a few modern inscriptions thrown in just for fun, such as easter eggs from Adventure Time).

Download

Get it on Google Play

Looking for feedback!

The app is at a very early release stage and I’m looking for constructive feedback. Please send it over by a DM on Reddit, by email to , or just leave a comment here!

ᛏᚢᛋᛁᚾ ᛏᛅᚴ

Should rines have a specific way to draw them? Like you start with a certain runes if they are combined or should you draw them in any order?

I am looking into getting my first tattoo. As I am now in my 30’s I want a lot of meaning in it. My last name is one of the oldest German names on record dating to early/mid 400 AD. I am confident in my genealogical research on that. With that being said I want to include runes into the tattoo but I want to make sure they are historically accurate to area and time. From my limited research I am seeing Elder Futhark as the correct runes for time/location. Is that correct? I also understand that translation to Elder Futhark can be a bit harder as it as not as widely understood as younger Futhark any tips for translating to Elder Futhark if I am correct?

Hello!

Are there any examples of using Y or ᛣ runes on bracteates?

I mean, not in bind-runes like a+k or a+R, but as single runes... If some bracteates dates to 500 - 550, those runic shapes should be present?

Thanks!