Proto-Germanic, Proto-Norse, Gothic, Alemannic, Old High German
Related scripts
Parent systems
Phoenician alphabet
Greek alphabet (Cumae variant)
Old Italic alphabet
Latin alphabet?
Elder Futhark
Child systems
Younger Futhark, Anglo-Saxon futhorc
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This article contains runic characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of runes.
Distribution of pre–sixth-century Elder Futhark finds
The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Period. Inscriptions are found on artifacts including jewelry, amulets, plateware, tools, and weapons, as well as runestones in Scandinavia, from the 2nd to the 10th centuries.
In Scandinavia, beginning in the late 8th century, the script was simplified to the Younger Futhark, while the Anglo-Saxons and Frisians instead extended it, giving rise to the Anglo-Saxon futhorc. Both the Anglo-Saxon futhorc and the Younger Futhark remained in use during the Early and the High Middle Ages respectively, but knowledge of how to read the Elder Futhark was forgotten until 1865, when it was deciphered by Norwegian scholar Sophus Bugge.[1]
^Vänehem, Mats, Forskning om runor och runstenar (article), Stockholms Lans Museum, archived from the original on 2010-08-22, retrieved 2009-07-23.
symbols instead of runes. The ElderFuthark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic...
(also Elhaz) is the name conventionally given to the "z-rune" ᛉ of the ElderFuthark runic alphabet. Its transliteration is z, understood as a phoneme of...
alphabets are the ElderFuthark (c. AD 150–800), the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (400–1100), and the Younger Futhark (800–1100). The Younger Futhark is divided further...
instead of runes. The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the ElderFuthark, with only 16 characters...
The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of ElderFuthark (some 350 items, dating to between the 2nd and 8th centuries AD), Anglo-Frisian...
under a ship on DR 220 in Sønder Kirkeby, Denmark. Examples found in ElderFuthark inscriptions include: Stacked Tiwaz runes: Kylver Stone, Seeland-II-C...
ēðel and odal, is a rune that represents the o and œ phonemes in the ElderFuthark and the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc writing systems respectively. Its name is...
the m-rune ᛗ of the ElderFuthark. It is derived from the reconstructed Common Germanic word for "man", *mannaz. Younger Futhark ᛘ is maðr ("man"). It...
majority of runestones date to the Viking Age. There is only a handful ElderFuthark (pre-Viking-Age) runestones (about eight, counting the transitional...
journey" is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the r- rune of the ElderFuthark ᚱ. The name is attested for the same rune in all three rune poems, Old...
shapes) of the letters of the Gothic alphabet correspond to those of the ElderFuthark. The name of 𐌸, the Gothic letter corresponding to Þ is an exception;...
Gothic alphabet 𐌳 d is called dags. This rune is also part of the ElderFuthark, with a reconstructed Proto-Germanic name *dagaz. Its "butterfly" shape...
beorc ⟨ᛒ⟩, meaning "birch". Beorc dates to at least the 2nd-century ElderFuthark, which is now thought to have derived from the Old Italic alphabets'...
as hægl, and, in the Younger Futhark, as ᚼ hagall. The corresponding Gothic letter is 𐌷 h, named hagl. The ElderFuthark letter has two variants, single-barred...
i, named eis. The rune is recorded in all three rune poems: ElderFuthark Younger Futhark Rune poem Original poems and translation from the Rune Poem...
more accurately Ingvaeones, and is also the reconstructed name of the ElderFuthark rune ᛜ and Anglo-Saxon rune ᛝ, representing ŋ. Old Norse Yngvi as well...
the Snoldelev Stone shows an early version of the Younger Futhark. Like the late ElderFuthark Björketorp Runestone, it uses an a-rune which has the same...
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