What are runes?
Q: What are runes?
A: Runes are very old letters which Germanic people used before they started using Latin letters in the Middle Ages. In its broadest sense, the word runes can mean any cryptic letters, but it usually refers to the alphabets used by Scandinavian people from about 150 CE to the Middle Ages.
Q: What is the Elder Fuþark?
A: The Elder Fuþark is one of the oldest runic alphabets and was used from about 150 to 800 CE.
Q: What is the Younger Fuþark?
A: Around 800 CE, the runes changed into what is known as the Younger Fuþark and these were used until about 1100 when they were replaced by Latin alphabet.
Q: Where are runes found?
A: Runes can be found carved into stones (called runestones) in many places in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden), and in Britain, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands and Frisia.
Q: How have runes been used historically?
A: Historically, runes have been used for writing poems and eulogies as well as ciphers. They were also famously incorporated into J. R. R Tolkien's fantasy works based on Germanic mythology. Additionally, during Nazi Germany they were utilized to support a new mysticism and romanticized view of Germanic heritage.
Q: How did some of the rune names survive into modern times? A: The rune ᚦ survived into Middle Ages English language as well as modern Icelandic where it is pronounced "th" like in thing or this; however after Norman conquest it was replaced with th because it was unknown to French-speaking Normans while ð (also pronounced "th") was an Old English letter still present in Icelandic but actually derived from Irish not from runes themselves.
Q: What language did all of these early versions of runes come from? A: All early versions of runes originated from Proto-Germanic language which encompassed many regional dialects at that time; each rune had a name similar to our modern letters but those very old names are no longer known so their association with later letters has allowed for their reconstruction over time
