The runic alphabet

Inspiration and form

Runes arose in the Germanic language area and were used in particular in Scandinavia. The characters were inspired by Latin writing, which the Romans had distributed to most of Europe. Looking at runes, it is obvious that some of them resemble, or are almost identical with, the Latin characters on which they were modelled.

Runes were constructed as characters intended to be carved in various materials such as wood, metal or stone.

The history of the runic alphabet

Originally the runic alphabet consisted of 24 characters, but around the beginning of the Viking Age it changed markedly and was reduced to only 16. Some characters had several meanings. For example the u-rune could be read as u, o, y, ø and w.

The introduction of Christianity to Scandinavia in the 10th-11th century, steadily closer contacts with the rest of Europe and a growing machinery of power led to the use of Latin letters in writing in the Nordic countries. Gradually this became the dominant form. However, runes were not forgotten. They were used up until the 15th century, especially for short, everyday messages. The medieval runic alphabet was extended so that there were characters corresponding to each of the Latin letters.

Futhark

The runic alphabet is often referred to as futhark after the sounds of the first six characters (the th-sound was denoted by a single rune). The order of the letters differs from that of the Latin alphabet.

Who could read and write?

The surviving artefacts bearing runic inscriptions suggest that it was primarily the upper classes, craftsmen, merchants and the clergy who were able to read and write.

Download an overview of the runic alphabets (Adobe Reader is needed. Download it here)