ルーン文字の解読
◈解読に貢献した人物
デンマークの学者。最初の体系的なルーン文字研究とフサルク・アルファベットの整理。
スウェーデンの学者。近代ルーン学の土台を築いた。
◈どのように解読されたか
Runic script never fully disappeared — it was used in Scandinavia through the Middle Ages, and in Iceland until the 18th century. Two keys enabled decipherment: first, the names of runes (fehu=cattle, uruz=aurochs, etc.) were preserved in Norse languages. Second, bilingual inscriptions with Latin survived. The phonetic value was the initial consonant of each rune's name — F(fehu), U(uruz), Þ(thurisaz).
◈実際に解読された文字
ᛖᚲ ᚺᛚᛖᚹᚨᛉ = ek hlēwagastiz =「我はフレーワガスティズ」— ガレフスの黄金の角のルーン銘文（400年ごろ）。「我は[名]なり」形式のもっとも古いゲルマン語文の一つ。
◈解読の前後の物語
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.
In 1636, Ole Worm published the first systematic runic study. Comparison with Norse language records confirmed the name and phonetic value of each rune.
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.