01OVERVIEW
Front Matter
SCRIPT · PROFILE
Elder Futhark (Runic)
The runic script of the Germanic peoples.
The runic script of the Germanic peoples. Likely derived from early Italic script, used from around 150 AD. Carved on stones, weapons, and jewelry, it was believed to carry magical power. The word "rune" means "secret/mystery" in Old Germanic. Norse mythology holds that Odin discovered the runes after hanging himself upside down from a tree for 9 days and nights. Today, runes serve as the archetype of magical script in fantasy games and films worldwide.
04SPECIMEN
The Letters
Signs · Unicode · TypesSample GlyphsClick to copy
Glyph evolution
Form change over time
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05DECIPHERMENT
The Decipherment
Gradual decipherment (17th–19th century)Key scholars
Kylver Stone, Golden Horns of Gallehus, Lindholm amulet
Ole Worm1588–1654
Danish scholar who produced the first systematic runic study and catalogued the Futhark alphabet.
Johan Gottfried Liljegren1791–1837
Swedish scholar who laid the foundations of modern runology.
Before
Medieval European churches banned runic script as pagan magic. Outside Scandinavia, the meaning of runes was completely forgotten. 17th-century European scholars viewed runic inscriptions as mysterious ciphers.
Breakthrough
In 1636, Ole Worm published the first systematic runic study. Comparison with Norse language records confirmed the name and phonetic value of each rune.
After
Runic decipherment revealed early Germanic history, Norse mythology, and Migration Period records. Today about 6,000 runic inscriptions are known and form core sources for Scandinavian history.
Decoded signs
Glyph → phonetic → meaning
ᚠ
ᚢ
ᚦ
ᚨ
ᚱ
ᚲ
ᚷ
ᚹ
ᚺ
ᚾ
ᛁ
ᛃ
ᛇ
ᛈ
ᛉ
ᛊ
ᛏ
ᛒ
06MECHANICS
Reading Mechanics
Direction · Method↔
Direction
Left to Right (LTR)
Mostly left to right, sometimes right to left
α
System
Alphabet
⌨
Input method
Direct Unicode input
Keyboard layout
Standard IME · input chart
Keyboard layout data not yet available.
07LINEAGE
The Lineage
Family · DescendantsPhylogeny
Ancestors & descendants
Phylogeny
Related scripts
Ancestors · Descendants · Family
Ancestors
Same family
08REACH