LOOKS A BIT DIFFERENT HERE, RIGHT?

I've condensed the Elder and Younger Futhark Pages into one, now all of my Runic content will be in one place. The posts about Symbolism and Misinformation will be placed on a different page, which I'll be adding shortly. Scroll through, have a look around and then come and tell me what you think.

IG - @EINARRS_JOURNEY

The Elder Futhark runes are the oldest that we're aware of, used by the early germanic cultures and then phased out in favour of the Younger Futhark during the Viking age. Take the meanings I've written for them with a grain of salt. Each list is gathered from a wide range of sources, and my goal is to critically analyse each one to provide you with a description for each rune that makes sense.

All of the content that I plan to add to this page is in my Runes eBook. It's my oldest eBook and definitely due an update. I'll be making the deep dive pages for each rune while I work on the update for that eBook.

EBOOK • The Runes

  • FEHU

    Wealth, Profit, Prosperity, Status, Abundance, Reward, Money, Power & The fruition of one's efforts.

  • ŪRUZ

    Endurance, Survival, Determination, Physical Prowess, Stamina, Willpower & Lifeforce.

  • ÞURISAZ

    Decisions, Protection, Warning, Contemplation, Action, Destruction & Defence.

  • ANSUZ

    Aesir God, Wisdom, Inspiration, Divine Communication, Creativity, Speech & Insight.

  • RAIÐŌ

    Travel, Physical or Spiritual Journey, Movement, Orientation, Changes & Progress.

  • KAUNA

    Enlightenment, Creativity, Craftsmanship, Wisdom, Pain & Honing Abilities.

  • GEBŌ

    Gift, Hospitality, Friendship, Harmony, Honour, Reciprocity & Kindness.

  • WUNJŌ

    Joy, Happiness, Well-being, fellowship, Bliss, Friendship, Love, Harmony & Hope.

  • HAGALAZ

    Destruction, Misfortune, Difficulty, Hardship, Transformation & Fortification.

  • NAUÐIZ

    Unmet Needs, Scarcity, Restriction, Failure, Grief, Duress, Struggle, Oppression, Hardship, Constraints, Suffering, Stagnancy. 

  • ĪSAZ

    Stagnation, Standstill, Obstacles, Scarcity, Lack of Movement and Lack of Progress.

  • JĒRA

    Seasons, Fruition, Reward, Cyclical Development, Fertility, Growth, The Yearly Cycle, Harvest, Earth & Livelihood.

  • EIHWAZ

    Endurance, Rebirth, Protection, The God Ullr, The Yew Bow, Resistance, Regeneration, Sturdiness & Poison.

  • PERÐŌ

    Secrets, Mystery, Revelation, Time, The Norns, Fate, Cause and Effect [Karma], Evolution, Change, or Feast/Celebration.

  • ALGIZ

    Protection, Death, Defence, Divine Connection & The Divine Self.

  • SŌWILŌ

    Energy, Guiding light, Success, Good Health, Life, Growth, Honour and Achieving Goals.

  • TĪWAZ

    Victory, Battle, Guide, Discipline, Sacrifice, Victory, Courage, Masculine Energy, Passion, Justice and Self Sacrifice.

  • BERKANA

    Light, Renewal, Femininity, Birth, Fertility, New Beginnings, Family, Regeneration and Fertilisation.

  • EHWAZ

    Motion, Loyalty, Trust, Movement, Travel, Connection, Harmonious Duality, Sleipnir and Cooperation.

  • MANNAZ

    Humanity, The Self, Intelligence, Assistance, Family, Community, Divine Consciousness and Social Structures.

  • LAGUZ

    Mutability, Flow, Movement, Mystery, Intuition, Growth, The Feminine, The Subconscious, Psychic Ability and The Moon.

  • INGWAZ

    Fertility, Male procreative force, Safety, Seed, Stability, Consecration, Manhood, Nature, Agriculture and Peace.

  • DAGAZ

    Dawn, New Beginnings, Daylight, Success, Progress, Transformation, The Future, Balance, Hope and Sunrise.

  • ŌÞALA

    Enclosure, Inherited Land, Inherited Property, Kinship, Family, Prosperity, Offspring, Home, Shelter and Investments.

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Before the shift to the Viking age, the 24 Elder Futhark Runes we're used

ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛈ ᛇ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛞ ᛟ

These were then slowly phased out in favour of a more efficient writing systsem of 16 Runes:

ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛦ ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ

The language spoken throughout the Viking-age was Old Norse, with variation between the different Scandinavian countries, naturally. Old Norse was categorically written using the 16 Younger Futhark Runes.

Here's an overview of The younger Futhark and the characters that each rune can be used to write. Writing in runes is very nuanced, but you'll find more information on my Rune Converter page. My largest project using the Younger Futhark is my Norse Mythology Encyclopedia eBook, where I've transliterated the names of over 250 Gods, Goddesses, Giants, Beasts & Others from Old Norse to Younger Futhark. And as a bonus, I turned all of them into Bindrunes too. Grab yourself a copy of the eBook, you'll be very surprised that it was made entirely by one person.

EBOOK • The Norse Mythology Encyclopedia

  • FÉ

    'WEALTH/CATTLE'

    F

  • ÚR

    'SLAG/RAINSTORM'

    U, Ú, Ũ, O, Ó, Õ, Ø, Ǿ, Œ, Y, Ý, Ỹ

  • ÞURS

    'GIANT/JOTUNN'

    TH, Þ, Ð

  • ÃSS/ÁSS/ÓSS

    'A GOD [ÆSIR]'

    Ã, Ą, Á

  • KAUN

    'BOIL/ULCER'

    K, G, NG, NK

  • REIÐ

    'RIDE'

    R

  • HAGALL

    'HAIL'

    H

  • NAUÐR

    'NEED/THREAT'

    N

  • ÍSS

    'ICE'

    I, Í, Ĩ, E, É, Ẽ

  • ÁR

    'YEAR/HARVEST'

    A, Á, E, Æ, Ö, Ǫ

  • SÓL

    'SUN'

    S

  • TÝR

    'THE GOD TÝR'

    T, D, NT, ND

  • BJARKAN

    'BIRCH TREE'

    B, P, MB, MP

  • MAÐR

    'MAN/MANKIND'

    M

  • LǪGR

    'LAKE/WATER'

    L

  • ÝR

    'YEW TREE'

    R [At the end of the word]

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I'm far from an expert in the Old Norse Language, but here's a rough breakdown for you:

VOWELS:

There are 9 distinct vowels in the Old Norse language, each with a LONG ORAL variant, and each with an LONG NASAL variant. I'll list those below in order of Normal, long oral and nasal oral:

I, Y, E, Ø, Æ, A, Ǫ, O, U

Í, Ý, É, Ǿ, Ǽ, Á, Ǫ́, Ó, Ú

ĩ, Ỹ, Ẽ, *, Æ̃, Ã, *, Õ, Ũ

CONSONANTS

Alongside the vowels in the Old Norse language, there are a variety of Consonants too. I'll add to this list as I further my knowledge on the Old Norse language, but here are the ones I know:

Bb, Dd, Ðð, Ff, Gg, Hh, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Pp, Rr, Ss, Tt, Zz, Þþ.

You'll also find all of these with the names and images of the runes above, alongside the corresponding rune for each letter.

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Ironically, in seeking to make a fun resource as for my website, I opened the door for a series of interesting projects. The links below will take you to some of those resources. The Norse Mythology Encyclopedia is an eBook I created with the goal of documenting every being in the Norse Myths. Version 1 has over 250 NNorse Mythology Beings, each with the Old Norse name, A Younger Futhark Translation and a Bindrune you can tattoo.

As part of my upcoming Hávamál Book, I transliterated the entire poem into runes. A future project is to write all of the Norse Myths in runes as well.

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