Viking Runes - History and Meaning

The runic alphabet, also known as futhark, was a writing system used by Germanic peoples in northern Europe, Britain, Scandinavia, and Iceland from around the third century AD until the sixteenth or seventeenth century AD.

 Please take a look at our Viking Jewelry collections that will really get you excited

Both the medieval and Viking eras saw the carving of runes in Denmark. Significant quantities of runic inscriptions from the middle ages have been discovered recently. These carvings were utilized for a variety of purposes, including serious and lighthearted ones as well as ones honoring God.

Before the Latin alphabet was adopted in the later Middle Ages, the Norse and other Germanic peoples employed written letters called runes. The runes, in contrast to the Latin alphabet, which is primarily a functional script, are representations of some of the most potent cosmic powers. The word "rune" and its cognates really imply "letter" as well as "secret/mystery" in both ancient and modern Germanic languages. One can get access to, engage with, and have an impact on the forces that shape the world through the letters known as "runes." Odin wasn't only trying to collect a collection of illogical representations of human vocalizations when he sought the runes. Instead, he was discovering a highly effective way of magic.

Is Odin associated with runes?

One of our Odins Viking Necklace would make the perfect compliment to your viking outfit

The massive tree Yggdrasil is located in the middle of the Norse universe. Asgard, the residence and citadel of the Aesir gods and goddesses, of whom Odin is the chief, is cradled by Yggdrasil's highest branches.

The Well of Urd, a pool containing many of the universe' most potent energies and creatures, is where Yggdrasil emerges. The Norns, three wise maidens who determine the destiny of all creatures, are among these entities. Carving runes into Yggdrasil's trunk is one of their main methods for influencing fate. These intents are subsequently spread through the symbols throughout the tree, having an impact on every aspect of the Nine Worlds.

The massive tree Yggdrasil is located in the middle of the Norse universe. Asgard, the residence and citadel of the Aesir gods and goddesses, of whom Odin is the chief, is cradled by Yggdrasil's highest branches.

The Well of Urd, a pool containing many of the universe' most potent energies and creatures, is where Yggdrasil emerges. The Norns, three wise maidens who determine the destiny of all creatures, are among these entities. Carving runes into Yggdrasil's trunk is one of their main methods for influencing fate. These intents are subsequently spread through the symbols throughout the tree, having an impact on every aspect of the Nine Worlds.

Odin became one of the most powerful and accomplished beings in the universe once he learned how to use the runes. He picked up chants that allowed him to do things like heal physical and emotional wounds, bind enemies and render their weapons useless, break free from bonds, extinguish fires, reveal and drive away those who practice evil magic, defend his friends in battle, awaken the dead, win and keep a lover, and many other things.

What are the origins of runes?

Its origin is unknown. Runic script, which descended definitely from one of the alphabets of the Mediterranean region, first appeared relatively late in the history of writing. However, runic writing appears to be a more ancient system due to its angular letter shapes and the fact that early runic inscriptions were written from right to left like the first alphabets. From the sixth century BC until the fifth century AD, scholars have tried to deduce it from the capital or cursive forms of the Greek or Latin alphabets.

The Meldorf brooch, which was created in the northern part of modern-day Germany approximately 50 CE, has the oldest conceivably runic inscription that we are aware of. However, the writing is rather obscure, and experts disagree as to whether the characters are runic or Roman. The Vimose comb from Vimose, Denmark, and the vre Stabu spearhead from southern Norway both date to around 160 CE and include the first unmistakable runic inscriptions. The Kylver stone from Gotland, Sweden, which dates to around 400 CE, has the first known carving of the full futhark (alphabet), in sequence.

The majority of the period's modern alphabets that were employed for carving in wood or stone share the angular forms of the runes. There are no horizontal strokes since doing so would make the message less readable and more likely to splinter the wood when carved onto a flat staff or stick. Other alphabets, including the early Latin alphabet used for the Duenos inscription, also have this trait, although not all do. Early runic inscriptions, in particular, usually contain varying rune forms, such as horizontal strokes. Horizontal strokes can also be seen in runic texts, which are written rather than carved runes, such the Codex Runicus.

Different runic Alphabets

At least three primary types of runic script exist: Anglo-Saxon, or Anglian, was used in Britain from the fifth or sixth century to around the 12th century AD. Nordic, or Scandinavian, was used from the eighth to the 12th or 13th century AD in Scandinavia and Iceland. Early, or Common, Germanic (Teutonic), was used in northern Europe before about 800 AD. Runes were infrequently employed after the 12th century for charms and memorial inscriptions up until the 16th or 17th century, primarily in Scandinavia. The Early Germanic script of 24 letters that were arranged into three groups of eight letters each, known as aettir.

Although the early runic alphabet's precise history is still unknown, the script eventually descends from the Phoenician alphabet. The Raetic, Venetic, Etruscan, or Old Latin are possible sources for the earliest runes. All of these writings shared the same epigraph-friendly angular letter forms at the time, which would later come to characterize the runes and similar scripts in the area.

It is uncertain how the writing was transmitted. The first legible writing may be found in northern Germany and Denmark. A "Gothic theory" assumes transmission through East Germanic expansion, whereas a "West Germanic hypothesis" posits transfer through Elbe Germanic populations. In contemporary popular culture, runes are still employed in a wide range of contexts.

What do runes represent?

Runes can be used to express the ideas for which they are named in addition to a sound value (a phoneme) (ideographs). Academics frequently refer to examples of this as Begriffsrunen. The Anglo-Saxon variation is futhorc or fuorc, whereas the Scandinavian variants go by futhark or fuark (names derived from the first six letters of the script: F, U,, A, R, and K).

The alphabet's name, futhark, comes from the first six letters' respective sounds of f, u, th, a, r, and k. In order to express Old English sounds that did not exist in the languages that had utilized the Early Germanic alphabet, the Anglo-Saxon script added letters to the futhark. There were 28 letters in Anglo-Saxon, and by 900 AD there were 33. The letter shapes also differed a little bit. The sounds in the Scandinavian languages were even more varied than in Old English, but instead of adding additional letters to the futhark to represent the new sounds, the users of the Nordic script compounded the letter values by using the same letter to stand for multiple sounds, such as one letter for the letters k and g and a, ae, and o. The futhark was finally reduced to 16 letters as a result of this technique.

The Hälsinge Runes (q.v. ), Manx Runes, and stungnar runir, or "dotted runes," were further forms of runes that were all variations of the Nordic alphabet. There are already more than 4,000 known runic inscriptions and many runic texts. Of them, around 2,500 are from Sweden; the rest are from Britain, Iceland, other islands off the coasts of Britain and Scandinavia, and other nations in Europe, such as France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia.

Runes used as magical charms

The Vikings were unlikely to utilize such a harsh method to learn the runes. However, the practice of runic magic by the Vikings is frequently referenced in the Icelandic sagas, and rune casting is cited in late medieval folk ballads as a way to win a girl's affection. Runic magic appears to be a Medieval and Early Modern creation rather than a truth from the Viking Age.

The sagas claimed that runic writings had magical properties. Inscriptions might be used to make predictions about the future, shield someone from bad luck, bestow various properties on items, or record conjurations, curses, and spells. However, more practical statements may be found in the majority of runic inscriptions that have been discovered. These have been cut to be used frequently.

The usage of runes and magical words in regard to health is described in the sagas. In the legend of Egil Skallagrimsson, the skald Egil heals a little girl who has been cursed by fake runes with runes. The girl is cured after Egil carves new runes and sets them beneath her pillow. The lesson of the tale is that words and runes may be harmful in The lesson of the tale is that, in the wrong hands, words and runes may be lethal.

Additionally, there were many uses for the runes inscribed on the rune stones. The Glavendrup stone on the island of Funen, for instance, carries a warning to anybody who would attempt to harm or transfer the stone.

What are runes used for?

The words assigned to the runes and the sounds the runes themselves represented started to diverge as Proto-Germanic developed into its later language groups. To account for these changes, each culture would either create new runes, rename or rearrange its existing rune names, or stop using outdated runes altogether. As a result, the Anglo Saxon futhorc features a number of unique runes to indicate diphthongs that are exclusive to (or at least common in) the Anglo-Saxon dialect.

Some later runic discoveries can be found on monuments (runestones), which frequently have serious inscriptions commemorating famous figures or persons who died long ago. For a very long time, it was believed that runes were used primarily for this type of magnificent inscription and that those who used them belonged to a particular socioeconomic class of rune carvers.

However, the Bryggen inscriptions a group of over 670 inscriptions were discovered in Bergen in the middle of the 1950s. Inscriptions of a commonplace nature, such as name tags, prayers (sometimes in Latin), personal greetings, business letters, and professions of affection, as well as profane and occasionally extremely filthy language, were created on wood and bone, frequently in the shape of sticks of various sizes. Following this discovery, it is now widely believed that Runic was a widely used writing system, at least in its later stages.