INTRODUCTION

In the scholarly sense of the word, runes are certain letters that were used by Germanic peoples. Other symbols such as magical sigils from fantasy games, or the various angular letters that were used by non-Germanic peoples, are not runes in a strict sense. Runes descend from Greek letters, likely through at least one intermediate script. The details of this transmission are hazy, but one promising theory is that writing was passed northward through the Alps; certain Alpine scripts show remarkable similarities to runes. Runic likely emerged as an independent writing tradition some time between 200 BC and 100 AD. By 1500 AD runes had been almost fully replaced by Latin letters in the lands they had once been used in. Here is a pretty exhaustive list of runes to help one recognise them: ᚠᚢᚦᚨᚱᚲᚷᚹᚺᚻᚾᛁᛃᛇᛈᛉᛊᛋᛏᛒᛖᛗᛚᛜᛞᛟᚩᚳᛡᛝᚪᚫᚣᛠᛣᚸᚬᚴᛅᛦᛘᛚᚭᚽᚿᛆᛧᛌᛓᛙᚮᚵᛐᚡᚯᛕᛔᛑᚤᚰ.

Although knowledge of runes never fully died out, and has made something of a comeback, the popular understanding of runes today is warped, largely by misinformation originating in the Völkisch and New Age movements. Here are some things you should know:

• The idea that runes were used for divination is dubious. There is no solid evidence for a historical practice of rune divination. Tacitus claimed that some Germani used wood bits with marks on them in divination, but it is not at all clear that he was talking about runes, or even that runes existed at the time of his report.

• The idea that runes were considered especially magical by their users is dubious. Runes were mainly used for ordinary things like memorialising the dead, and marking objects with their owners' names. Although runes were used to write magical incantations, Germanic speakers began doing the same thing with Latin letters after they were adopted.

• The idea that runes were deeply associated with abstract concepts is dubious. Runes have been found standing for their names, like ᛞ standing for the word day, but the evidence does not support the notion that ᛞ stood for related concepts like light, visibility, warmth, and so on.

• The idea that runes were seen as inherently pagan by their users is wrong. Germanic speakers continued to use runes after converting, just as Romans continued to use Latin letters after converting. There is no lack of explicitly Christian runic inscriptions.

• The idea that runes are inherently Norse (or "Viking") is wrong. The first rune users were pre-Norse Germanic speakers who later begat the Norse, English, Alemanni, Franks, and Goths and passed runic writing down to them.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF RUNOLOGY

Johan Bure is credited by some as being the father of runology. When he began his study of runes around the 1590s runic had not been forgotten, but the Latin alphabet had overtaken it as the everyday script. Bure's studies included finding runestones, sketching them, and making translations. He worked mostly with Swedish runes. In the mid 1600s Ole Worm did much the same, but he dealt mostly with Danish, Norwegian, and Gotlandish runes, and he published his works more.

In the 1700s Olaus Verelius and Johan Göransson continued where Bure left off. Verelius made a connection between runes and Greek letters. In the 1800s George Stephen published a large work which included Anglo-Frisian futhorc inscriptions. Ludvig Wimmer published works around the turn of the twentieth century. Unlike previous runologists, Wimmer's scholarship was of a higher standard more akin to that of runologists today. Next, Sophus Bugge and Magnus Olsen authored a much-needed work on elder futhark.

In the 1820s and 1830s Jakob Bredsdorff put forth that elder futhark is older than younger futhark. Up until him, it was widely believed the more primitive-looking younger futhark was the older of the two.

In the mid 1900s old assumptions about runes were challenged. Anders Bæksted and others worked to dispel the assumption that runes were seen as especially magical by their users. Today runologists are much more hesitant to rely on magical explanations for tricky inscriptions.

Credit for these goes mostly to the people at r/Norse.

• Odin ᚢᚦᛁᚾ

• Thor ᚦᚢᚱ

• Loki ᛚᚢᚴᛁ

• Fenrir ᚠᛅᚾᚱᛁᛦ

• to Valhall ᛏᛁᛚ᛬ᚢᛅᛚᚼᛅᛚᛅᛦ

• Asgard ᚬᛋᚴᛅᚱᚦᚱ

• viking ᚢᛁᚴᛁᚴᚱ

• berserker ᛒᛁᚱᛋᛅᚱᚴᛦ

• drengr ᛏᚱᛁᚴᛦ

• power ᛘᛅᚴᛁᚾ

• strength ᛋᛏᚢᚱᚴᛦ

• wisdom ᛋᛒᛅᚴᛁ

• father ᚠᛅᚦᛁᛦ

• mother ᛘᚢᚦᛁᛦ

• son ᛋᚢᚾᛦ

• daughter ᛏᚢᛏᛁᛦ

• brother ᛒᚱᚢᚦᛁᛦ

#This section lists runologists whose work is not outdated, or at least not particularly so.

Elmer Antonsen

• author of Runes and Germanic Linguistics

Michael Barnes

• author of Runes: a Handbook

• author of various articles

Erik Brate

• contributor to Sveriges Runinskrifter.

Sophus Bugge

• contributor to Sveriges Runinskrifter.

Anders Bæksted

• did much to undo the assumption that runic was a "magical" script

Klaus Düwel

• author of Runenkunde

Ottar Grønvik

Helmer Gustavson

Wilhelm Heizmann

• author of various articles

Lisbeth Imer

• author of various articles

Lis Jacobsen

Sven Jansson

Hugo Jungner

Magnus Källström

Tineke Looijenga

• author of Texts and Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions

• author of various articles

Mindy MacLeod

• co-author of Runic Amulets and Magic Objects

Bernard Mees

• co-author of Runic Amulets and Magic Objects

• author of various articles

Erik Moltke

• author of Runes and their Origin: Denmark and Elsewhere

• contributor to the runology section of the National Museum of Denmark

Magnus Olsen

Marijane Osborn

• author of various articles

Raymond Page

• author of an Introduction to English Runes

• author of Runes (Reading the Past)

• author of Runes and Runic Inscriptions

• author of various articles

Lena Peterson

Peter Pieper

Thorgunn Snædal

Terje Spurkland

• author of Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions

Marie Stoklund

Elisabeth Svärdström

Gaby Waxenberger

• author of various articles

Elias Wessén

• contributor to Sveriges Runinskrifter.

Ludvig Wimmer

Otto von Friesen

Þorgunnur Snædal

#This section lists past runologists who deserve mention, although their work may be overly fanciful by today's standards, or out of date.

Johan Bure

• so-called father of runology

• author of Runa ABC

Johan Göransson

Wolfgang Krause

• author of Was man in Runen ritzte

• author of Runeninschriften im älteren Futhark

• author of Die Sprache der urnordischen Runeninschriften

• origin of the ⟨ ï ⟩ transliteration for ⟨ ᛇ ⟩

Olaus Magnus

Carl Marstrander

Olaus Petri

George Stephens

• author of The Old-Northern runic monuments of Scandinavia and England

• earliest known user of the term rune-row according to Oxford's Lexico dictionary

Ole Worm

• author of ᚱᚢᚿᛂᚱ aka Danica Literatura Antiqvissima

Olaus Verelius

• author of Manuductio ad Runographiam

• recognised the connection between runes and Greek letters

#This section lists honorary mentions.

Morten Axboe (archaeologist)

Jackson Crawford (populariser)

• teaches about runes on his YouTube channel

Anne-Sofie Gräslund (archaeologist)

Aslak Liestøl (archaeologist)

Sune Lindqvist (archaeologist)

This list should be fairly accurate, but do not take it all as fact. Keep in mind that there were all kinds of dialects and sound changes, so this list's accuracy depends on which region and which time period it is compared to. Also keep in mind that the English example words are just general helpers, and they may not always correspond to your pronunciation.

#ELDER FUTHARK

ᚠ

• Made /f/~/ɸ/, something like the F in FEE.

ᚢ

• Made /u/, like the OO in MOON.

ᚦ

• Made /θ/, like the TH in SHEATH.

ᚨ

• Made /ɑ/, like the A in FATHER.

ᚱ

• Made /r/, like the R in ROAD. This R was likely rolled.

ᚲ

• Made /k/, like the C in CAT.

• Had sundry variant shapes.

ᚷ

• Made /g/~/ɣ/, something like the G in GIFT, or the G in the Dutch word GOED.

ᚹ

• Made /w/, like the W in WIN.

ᚺ

• Made /h/~/x/, something like the H in HAIL, or the J in the Spanish word JOSÉ.

• Had ᚻ as a later variant shape.

ᚾ

• Made /n/, like the N in NEED.

ᛁ

• Made /i/, like the Y in ICY.

ᛃ

• Made /j/, like the Y in YEAR.

• Had sundry variant shapes.

• Later became a vowel among Proto-Norse speakers.

ᛈ

• Made /p/, like the P in PLAY.

• Significantly more rare than other runes.

ᛇ

• The original sound value is unknown. Apparently made /i/ sometimes, like the Y in ICY.

• Significantly more rare than other runes.

ᛉ

• Made /z/, like the S in DOGS.

ᛊ

• Made /s/, like the S in SUN.

ᛏ

• Made /t/, like the T in TUESDAY.

• Made /nt/, like the NT in DENT.

ᛒ

• Made /b/~/β/, something like the B in BIRCH, or the V in the Spanish word HUEVO.

ᛖ

• Made /e/, like the E in END, but more like the É in the French word CAFÉ.

ᛗ

• Made /m/, like the M in MAN.

ᛚ

• Made /l/, like the L in LAKE.

ᛜ

• Made /ŋg/, like the NG in FINGER.

ᛞ

• Made /d/, like the D in DAY. This sound had [ð] as an allophone, like the TH in SHEATHE.

• Made /nd/, like the ND in LAND.

ᛟ

• Made /o/, like the OE in TOE, but more like the O in the Spanish word NO.

#FUTHORC

ᚠ

• Made /f/, like the F in FEE. This sound had an allophone of [v], like the V in WOLVES.

ᚢ

• Made /u/, like the OO in MOON.

ᚦ

• Made /θ/, like the TH in SHEATH. This sound had an allophone of [ð], like the TH in SHEATHE.

ᚩ

• Made /o/, like the OE in TOE, but more like the O in the Spanish word NO.

• An offshoot of ᚫ.

ᚱ

• Made /r/, like the R in ROAD. This R was likely rolled.

ᚳ

• Made /k/, like the C in CAT.

• Made /tʃ/, like the CH in CHAT.

ᚷ

• Made /g/, like the G in GIFT. This sound had [ɣ] as an allophone, like the G in the Dutch word GOED.

• Made /j/, like the Y in YEAR.

ᚹ

• Made /w/, like the W in WIN.

ᚻ

• Made /h/, like the H in HAIL. This sound had /x/ as an allophone, like the CH in LOCH (in a Scottish accent).

• Appears as ᚺ in early inscriptions.

ᚾ

• Made /n/, like the N in NEED.

ᛁ

• Made /i/, like the Y in ICY.

ᛡ

• Made /j/, like the Y in YEAR.

• Appears as ᛄ in manuscripts.

ᛇ

• Made /i/, like the Y in ICY.

• Made [ç] and [x], which were allophones of /h/.

ᛈ

• Made /p/, like the P in PLAY.

ᛉ

• Made /ks/, like the X in REX.

• Was possibly given the sound /ks/ to match the Latin letter X under influence of the Latin alphabet.

ᛋ

• Made /s/, like the S in SUN. This sound had [z] as an allophone, like the S in DOGS.

ᛏ

• Made /t/, like the T in TUESDAY.

ᛒ

• Made /b/, like the B in BIRCH.

ᛖ

• Made /e/, like the E in END, but more like the É in the French word CAFÉ.

ᛗ

• Made /m/, like the M in MAN.

ᛚ

• Made /l/, like the L in LAKE.

ᛝ

• Made /ŋg/, like the NG in FINGER.

• Made /ŋ/, like the N in SINK.

ᛞ

• Made /d/, like the D in DAY.

ᛟ

• Made /ø/, like the Ö in the German word LÖẞ.

ᚪ

• Made /ɑ/, like the A in FATHER.

• An offshoot of ᚫ.

ᚫ

• Made /æ/, like the A in CAT (General American accent).

ᚣ

• Made /y/, like the Ü in the German word BLÜTE.

• Possibly started as a bindrune of ᚢ and ᛁ before becoming a full-fledged rune.

ᛠ

• Made /æɑ/, like the A in CAT followed by the A in FATHER.

ᛣ

• Made /k/, like the C in CAT.

• An offshoot of ᚳ.

ᚸ

• Made /g/, like the G in GORE. This sound had an allophone of [ɣ], like the G in the Dutch word GOED.

• An offshoot of ᚷ.

• Significantly more rare than other runes.

#YOUNGER FUTHARK

ᚠ

• Made /f/, like the F in FEE. This sound had an allophone of [β], like the V in VAT, but nearer to the V in the Spanish word HUEVO.

ᚢ

• Made /u/, like the OO in MOON.

• Made /o/, like the O in NO.

• Made /y/, like the Ü in the German word BLÜTE.

• Made /ø/, like the Ö in the German word LÖẞ.

• Made /w/, like the W in WIN.

ᚦ

• Made /θ/, like the TH in SHEATH. This sound had an allophone of [ð], like the TH in SHEATHE.

ᚬ / ᚭ

• Made /ã/, like the A in FATHER, but spoken through one's nose.

ᚱ

• Made /r/, like the R in ROAD. This R was likely rolled.

ᚴ

• Made /k/, like the C in CAT.

• Made /g/, like the G in GIFT. This sound had an allophone of [ɣ], like the G in the Dutch word GOED.

• Made /ŋk/, like the NK in SINK.

• Made /ŋg/, like the NG in FINGER.

ᚼ / ᚽ

• Made /h/, like the H in HAIL. This sound had an allophone of [x], like the CH in LOCH (Scottish accent).

ᚾ / ᚿ

• Made /n/, like the N in NEED.

ᛁ

• Made /i/, like the Y in ICY.

• Made /e/, like the E in END, but more like the É in the French word CAFÉ.

• Made /j/, like the Y in YEAR.

ᛅ / ᛆ

• Made /a/, like the A in FATHER.

• Made /æ/, like the A in CAT (in General American).

• Made /ɔ/, like the AW in DAWN.

ᛋ / ᛌ

• Made /s/, like the S in SUN. This sound had an allophone of [z], like the S in DOGS.

ᛏ / ᛐ

• Made /t/, like the T in TUESDAY.

• Made /d/, like the D in DAY.

• Made /nt/, like the NT in DENT.

• Made /nd/ like the ND in FRIEND.

ᛒ / ᛓ

• Made /b/, like the B in BIRCH.

• Made /p/, like the P in PLAY.

• Made /mb/, like the MB in SOMBER.

• Made /mp/, like the MP in LAMP.

ᛘ / ᛙ

• Made /m/, like the M in MAN.

ᛚ

• Made /l/, like the L in LAKE.

ᛦ / ᛧ

• Made /ʀ/, some kind of R sound which evolved from a Z sound. This /ʀ/ sound was distinct from the /r/ sound made by ᚱ, but eventually /ʀ/ disappeared because it turned into /r/.

• After /ʀ/ disappeared in Norway, Norwegians repurposed this rune to make /y/, like the Ü in the German word BLÜTE. This practice later spread to other North Germanic speaking areas.

• For a time in Denmark and Sweden this rune not only made /ʀ/, but also sounds in the range of /æ/, /e/, and /i/.

#FUTHORK (AKA "THE MEDIEVAL RUNES")

ᚠ

• Made /f/, like the F in FEE. This sound had an allophone of [v], like the V in VAT. When making [v] this rune was rarely modified to ᚡ.

ᚢ

• Made /u/, like the OO in MOON.

• Made /w/, like the W in WIN. This sound turned into /v/, like the V in VAT, at different times and in different places.

• Made /ø/, like the Ö in the German word LÖẞ. When making /ø/ this rune was often modified to ᚤ (though rarely in Norway).

• Made /y/, like the Ü in the German word BLÜTE. When making /y/ this rune was often modified to ᚤ (though rarely in Norway).

ᚦ

• Made /θ/, like the TH in SHEATH. This sound had an allophone of [ð], like the TH in SHEATHE. When making [ð] this rune was rarely modified to ᚧ.

ᚮ

• Made /o/, like the O in NO.

ᚱ

• Made /r/, like the R in ROAD. This R was likely rolled.

ᚴ

• Made /k/, like the C in CAT.

• Made /g/, like the G in GIFT. When making /g/ this rune was often modified to ᚵ.

ᚼ

• Made /h/, like the H in HAIL.

ᚿ

• Made /n/, like the N in NEED.

ᛁ

• Made /i/, like the Y in ICY.

• Made /j/, like the Y in YEAR. When making /j/ this rune was rarely modified to ᛂ.

• Made /e/, like the E in END, but more like the É in the French word CAFÉ. When making /e/ this rune was often modified to ᛂ.

ᛆ

• Made /ɑ/, like the A in FATHER.

ᛌ / ᛋ

• Made /s/, like the S in SUN. This sound had an allophone of [z], like the S in DOGS.

ᛐ / ᛏ

• Made /t/, like the T in TUESDAY.

• Made /d/, like the D in DAY. When making /d/ this rune was often modified to ᛑ

ᛒ

• Made /b/, like the B in BIRCH.

• Made /p/, like the P in PLAY. When making /p/ this rune was often modified to ᛔ, though this practice was largely made obsolete after the invention and spread of ᛕ, a new rune for /p/.

ᛘ

• Made /m/, like the M in MAN.

ᛚ

• Made /l/, like the L in LAKE.

ᛦ

• Made /y/, like the Ü in the German word BLÜTE.

ᚯ

• Made /ø/, like the Ö in the German word LÖẞ.

• Made /ɔ/, like the AW in DAWN.

ᛅ

• Made /ɛ/, like the E in ELK.

ᚰ

• Made /ɔ/, like the AW in DAWN.

• Significantly more rare than other runes.

ᛕ

• Made /p/, like the P in PLAY.

• Appears in the 13th century, likely as an offshoot of ᛒ.

BOOKS

introductory / broad

• Runes: a Handbook, Michael Barnes

• An Introduction to English Runes, Raymond Page

• Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Terje Spurkland

advanced / narrow

• Runes and Germanic Linguistics, Elmer Antonsen

• Runes Around the North Sea and on the Continent AD 150-700, Tineke Looijenga

• Texts & Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions, Tineke Looijenga

• Runic Amulets and Magic Objects, Mindy MacLeod & Bernard Mees

• Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Raymond Page

JOURNALS

• Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies

ARTICLES

• Runes in the First Century, Bernard Mees

• The Yew Rune, Yogh and Yew, Leeds Studies in English, 2011, Bernard Mees

• The Etymology of Rune, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 2014, Bernard Mees

• Runo-Gothica, Bernard Mees

• The Icelandic Rune-Poem, University College London, 1999, Raymond Page

• The Runic Frisian Vowel System, University of Amsterdam, 2014, Arjen Versloot,

• This site lets you download runic keyboard layouts. In other words, it lets you use your keyboard to type runes instead of Latin letters.

• This site lets you browse runic artefacts.

• This site lets you browse Norse runic artefacts.

• This spreadsheet contains attested rune names.

• This wiki contains images and transcriptions of most Futhorc artefacts.

VIDEOS

Jackson Crawford

• Runes: Letters, Not Symbols

• Intro. to Runes

• Which runes go with which language?

• The Names of the Elder Futhark Runes

• The Names of the Younger Futhark Runes

• Reconstructing Rune Names

• Writing Old Norse in Runes

• The Word "Rune"

• Elder to Younger Futhark

• Rune Styles

• Runes: 5 Misconceptions

• (Real, Historical) Rune Spells

• Bindrunes

• Origin of the Runes

• Runes and Phoenician Letters

Hurlebatte

• Writing Old English with Futhorc Runes

• Writing Old Norse with Younger Futhark Runes

• Frisian Runes

• Against the Rune-Sigil Misconception

• Runic Timeline

MANUSCRIPTS

• Cotton MS Domitian A IX - Futhorc and Younger Futhark runerows

• St John's College MS 17 - Futhorc and Younger Futhark runerows

• Codex Sangallensis 878 - Futhorc and Younger Futhark runerows

• Vindobonensis 795 - Futhorc runerow and Gothic letter names

• Codex Sangallensis 270 - Futhorc runerow and cipher rune commentary

• Cotton MS Titus D 18 - Futhork runes arranged alphabetically

• Stowe MS 57 - Futhork runerow

• Munich Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS Clm 19410 - Futhorc runerow

• Munich Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS Clm 14436 - Futhorc runerow