The 24 Elder Futhark runes are organized into three families of eight runes called aettir (singular aett).

The deeper lesson and meaning of the rune and how you interpret it.

The literal translation of the rune: what it represents and the sound it makes.

I encourage you to go further with your studies and consider your own impressions as you get to know each of the rune symbols. The interpretations below are only one small facet of these multi-layered symbols, drawn from my own research and experience. Runes continue to be a source of guidance and knowledge, just as they were thousands of years ago, and their mysterious power is still as relevant today as it was then. These symbols are incredibly meaningful, as they are open to interpretation depending on the reader’s personal experiences and understanding. Runes have been used for centuries to bring insight into the past and the future, as they are connected to universal energies that remain the same, even as time passes. Dated to around 400 AD, this runestone is a time capsule of sorts, but without any written records, it is impossible to know exactly when it was made.Įach of the 24 Elder Futhark runes is imbued with a powerful secret, which can be unlocked through careful study and meditation. The oldest known record of their use was found at a Viking settlement close to Tängelgårda, Sweden. These ancient Norse symbols have been discovered in distant places like Iran, Turkey, England, and India. The earliest known runes were carved into wood, bone, and stone, then painted with a variety of pigments to make them stand out. Each rune has its own unique meaning and can be used to create powerful messages of guidance, protection and transformation. It consists of 24 symbols and was used by the ancient Germanic and Nordic tribes. Of all the different types of runes, the Elder Futhark is the oldest and most widely used.

To someone with no knowledge of runes, the transmission of a message through symbols scratched on a piece of wood must have seemed unimaginable.

This thinking could have stemmed from the fact that writing itself was often seen as a form of magic by cultures that didn’t have their own writing systems. The term rune comes from the Old Norse word meaning ‘secret letter’, and it’s believed that they were used to cast spells. They are believed to contain a deeper, hidden meaning that transcends the traditional meanings of the words they form. In the Icelandic poem, Saturn possibly refers to Ymir or Útgarða-Loki.Runes are mysterious symbols that have held a special, sacred significance for centuries.Uncommonly severe on all who sit among them. The Germanic rune ᚦ is mentioned in three rune poems: Rune Poem: JSTOR ( August 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification. Old English þyrs 'giant, ogre' and Old High German duris-es '(of the) giant'). The lack of agreement between the various glyphs and their names in Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, and Old Norse makes it difficult to reconstruct the Elder Futhark rune's Proto-Germanic name.Īssuming that the Scandinavian name þurs is the most plausible reflex of the Elder Futhark name, a Common Germanic form * þurisaz can be reconstructed (cf.

The name of 𐌸, the Gothic letter corresponding to Þ is an exception it is recorded as þiuþ '(the) good' in the Codex Vindobonensis 795, and as such unrelated to either þurs or þorn. It is disputed as to whether a distinct system of Gothic runes ever existed, but it is clear that most of the names (but not most of the shapes) of the letters of the Gothic alphabet correspond to those of the Elder Futhark. An attempt has been made to account for the substitution of names by taking 'thorn' to be a kenning ( metaphor) for 'giant'. In Anglo-Saxon England, the same rune was called Thorn or 'Þorn' and it survives as the Icelandic letter Þ (þ). The word Futhark is derived from the first six letters, which are called Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho and Kennaz. The rune is absent from the earliest Vimose inscriptions, but it is found in the Thorsberg chape inscription, dated to ca. The Elder Futhark runes are a set of 24 symbols that were used for writing in Scandinavia and other parts of Northern Europe from about 200-800 AD. It is transliterated as þ, and has the sound value of a voiceless dental fricative /θ/ (the English sound of th as in thing). In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem it is called thorn, whence the name of the letter þ derived. The rune ᚦ is called Thurs ( Old Norse Þurs, a type of entity, from a reconstructed Common Germanic * Þurisaz) in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of runes.

Elder futhark runes font