Hwæt! So, perhaps you've encountered runes in a video game or a movie, seen an inscription in a museum, or even seen runes representing their names in an ancient manuscript like the Old Norse poem Hávamál or the Old English poem Beowulf.
Whatever the case, you're no doubt here because you're looking to find out more. Good! You've come to the right place.
What is a rune? What are runes?
In short, a rune is a character in the native script of speakers of ancient Germanic languages (commonly known as the Germanic peoples), and in turn this sub is a sister sub of r/AncientGermanic. Runes were used almost exclusively for communicating in Germanic languages by these peoples, with a few exceptions, like inscriptions in Latin and, potentially, the earliest writing of the Slavic peoples.
Runes have a long and fascinating history reaching from their development among the early Germanic peoples around the first century CE (or earlier), to their use for diverse purposes like an occult script and calendar symbols in the medieval period, and up to the modern revival of their use for a variety of purposes today.
For more detail, let's turn to scholars of runology, a subfield of Germanic philology focused on the formal study of runes. For example, as the late runologist Klaus Düwel explains:
Runes are the name given to the earliest Germanic written characters, characters that differ from any modern alphabet. Their precise origin remains unknown, though it is assumed that they were based on a Mediterranean alphabet (Greek, Latin, or Northern Italic), Latin because of the great impact of Roman culture on Northern Europe being the most probable. In any case, the several related Northern Italic alphabets used in inscriptions found in the Alps from the fourth to the first century B.C. demonstrate the most obvious parallels to runic shapes. The earliest extant runes can be dated archeologically to the second century A.D., but it is assumed that the use of runes predates this period.
The term rune is documented in various individual Germanic languages (for example Gothic rūna Old High German rūna(stab), Old English rūn, Old Norse rún) and means primarily “secret.” According to epigraphic and literary evidence they are considered to be “descended from the gods” (as recorded on the sixth-century Noleby stone in southern Sweden). Other sources suggest the god Odin invented or discovered them (thus the Norse poem known as “The Words of the High One,” Hávamál stanza 138–39). The myth that a god created the script is widespread and is the basis of the idea of the “power of writing in belief and superstition.” Runic writing is, like any other script, a means of communication that can be used for profane and sacred as well as magical purposes.
The usual arrangement of the twenty-four runes does not follow a formal alphabet, but represents an independent and characteristic sequence that, taken from the sound value of its first six characters, is called the futhark. […]
Each grapheme (single character) corresponds to a phoneme (single sound). This precise reproduction of the Germanic phonemic system by the futhark is commonly stressed, namely “that there was a near-perfect fit between the twenty-four runes of the older futhark and the distinctive speech sounds of the language or languages of the runic inscriptions that predate ca. A.D. 550–650.” The conversion of a runic character into a Latin letter is called transliteration, and such transliterations are printed in bold type. In addition to its sound value, each rune also represents a Begriffswert (semantic value) which is identical to the name of the individual rune, for example f = Germanic *fehu (cattle, property), u = *ūruz (aurochs, the now extinct wild ox), o = \ōþalan/ōþilan* (inherited property). Clear evidence of the epigraphic use of Begriffsrunen (ideographic runes, where the rune-name rather than the rune’s sound value is to be read) is present in the line “Haduwolf gave j,” the last rune meaning “a (good) year” (Stentoften stone, southern Sweden, seventh century). One assumes that the rune-names had always been associated with the runes even though these names are only documented in manuscripts from the eighth century.
Before posting on this sub, we strongly recommend that you read the entirety of Klaus Düwel's introduction to runes and the runic alphabet online here:
- Düwel, Klaus. 2004. "Runic" in Brian Murdoch and Malcolm Read (editors). Early Germanic Literature and Culture, p. 121-141. Camden House.
Further reading: Online
For another and more recently published introduction to the runic alphabets, we recommend runologist Tineke Looijenga's overview, which you can also read online (no need to sign in, just scroll down):
- Looijenga, Tineke. 2020. "Germanic: Runes" in Palaeohispánica 20, p. 819-853. Institucion Fernando el Catolico de la Excma. Diputacion de Zaragoza.
For a recent overview of the known ancient runic corpus, see the following paper:
And for a little discussion about medieval runes as an occult script used alongside non-native but subsequently dominant Latin script, see for example:
- Beck, Wolfgang. 2021. "Reading Runes in Late Medieval Manuscripts" in Mindy LacLeod, Marco Bianchi, and Henrik Williams (Editors.). Proceedings of the Eighth International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Nyköping, Sweden, 2–6 September 2014, p. 225-232. Uppsala.
For a brief history of writing in general, see this article by scholar Denise Schmandt-Besserat:
- Schmandt-Besserat, Denise. 2014. "The Evolution of Writing" in James Wright (editor). International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier.
These sources make for a great place for getting started. Until you've developed a sturdy understanding of runes, we recommend that you avoid sites like YouTube and stick to peer-reviewed academic publications. By doing so, you'll be in a much better place to discern runic fact from runic fiction.
Further reading: Print
When purchasing any resources in print, please consider going your local independent shop over Amazon. If you're in the US, find your local independent book seller here.
While it places emphasis on runes used to write Old English, the late R. I. Page's An Introduction to English Runes in fact serves as a introduction to runes more generally. Although it is today a classic, the book's major weakness is that it is now over 20 years old and does not cover the entire history of the use of runes, but it otherwise holds up quite excellently.
- Spurkland, Terje. 2005 [2001]. Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions. Boydell Press. Publisher website.
Unlike Page's introduction, Spurkland's introduction focuses primarily on runes found in what is today Norway. It is otherwise quite similar to Page's introduction in what it covers and suffers from the same weaknesses. Nonetheless, Spurkland's commentary is valuable, including when compared to that of Page.
- MacLeod, Mindy & Bernard Mees. 2006. Runic Amulets and Magic Objects. Boydell Press. Publisher website.
If you're particularly interested in rune magic—many have been!—MacLeod and Mees's book is a good place to start. The two cover a lot of well-known and lesser-known objects among the book's 278 pages. Nonetheless, you'd be wise to check what other runologists may have to say about these objects before coming to any firm conclusions. Comparative data is strength!
Runology resources
Modern runologists—scholars and enthusiasts alike—benefit greatly from easy access to digital resources. This section includes some of these resources.
Rundata is a classic resource in runology. Once upon a time, it was accessible only through a stand-alone app, but it can now be viewed online (as long as you're not using Safari, that is).
While still in beta, the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities's RuneS project is exceptionally promising as a resource.
Another handy database, this one from Uppsala University.
This section of the Skaldic Project lists examples of poetry written in runic. Very handy!
English Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons both feature a significant amount of media related to runes. The images provided by these resources are especially useful, as it can be tough to track down images of specific inscriptions.
You'll notice that while many of the above resources provide much discussion of runic inscriptions, they often lack quality images of the inscriptions in questions. This can lead to confusion and, for example, false impressions of standardization. Fortunately, some digital museums provide excellent images of inscriptions. This resource lists relevant digital collections that may contain runic inscriptions.
Did we miss any resources you'd recommend? Please go ahead and recommend them bellow!
