the m-rune is called maðr, meaning 'man' or 'human being', and the s-rune is called sól, meaning 'sun'. The names of individual runes begin with the sound the rune describes, e.g.
Runes are phonetic symbols, just like the letters we use today. Some of the text was lost, but the rest can be read as "Saxe carved these runes. The hard materials made it difficult to make round edges, so the runes are more angular than our letters.Īt the excavation of the Roskilde 6 long ship, which was found beneath the Museum Island at the Viking Ship Museum, the archaeologists found a runic-stick. The Vikings did not write on paper, but carved them into stone, wood or iron. Runes were used alongside our present-day alphabet up until the 14th century. Short runic inscriptions are also found on everyday artefacts from Viking towns and marketplaces. The runic stones of the Viking Age were erected in commemoration of powerful leaders and their heroic achievements. The strange þ-rune is pronounced 'th', a sound we find today especially in English words like 'the', 'think' and 'throne'.Įlder Futhark had 24 letters while Younger Futhark, developed at the beginning of the Viking Age, had only 16 letters.Įlder Futhark inscriptions etched by craftsmen and owners have been found on coins, garment brooches, weapons and implements dating primarily from the era of the Iron Age princes. The runic alphabet is named after its first six letters: The oldest runes are often found on items such as coins, suit buckles, weapons and implements, and are often the names of the owner of the item or the name of the person who made it. The earliest runic inscriptions, dating from ca 150 AD, are particularly common in what is now Denmark, Northern Germany and Southern Sweden. Runes developed in areas populated by Germanic tribes, probably inspired by the Latin alphabet of the Romans. What are runes?ĭuring the first centuries AD, the Romans influenced most of Europe. The Latin letters are the ones we use today. They are imitations of the Latin letters used in most of Europe during the Viking era.
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