What was the runic alphabet used for

Main navigation jump Main content jump Contact information jump. The Viking Ship Museum is closed for renovation. UiO Museum of Cultural History. Main navigation Search our webpages Search. Back to uio. Sub navigation Menu Norwegian website For employees My studies Visit us The Historical Museum Exhibitions archive Kiss me — the world of runes Runes in Norway through years The origin and development of runes Runic letters Weapons and jewellery The first runestones Viking runes Runes and the Church Runes in medieval towns Belief and superstition Passion and desire Politics and religion Runic letters and class exercises Recumbent gravestones Carving runes — practice makes perfect Personal names Runic bunglers — not everyone knew runes Runic inscriptions after the Reformation A fake runestone.

Norwegian version of this page The origin and development of runes Runes are not a language, but an alphabet — the Old Germanic alphabet. Published Dec. E-mail this page Share on Facebook Share on Twitter. Museum of Cultural History. Runic inscriptions, however, are rarely found on manuscripts. Rather, the futhark was used for memorial purposes, or to identify an object or for magical reasons, for cursing or healing. Contrary to popular belief, the Vikings were not illiterate, as most people could understand the runes.

While sagas, tales and songs were all memorized and unwritten, there would have been no use for a memorial stone if no one could understand the runic inscription on it. Since there were thousands of runestones, it stands to reason that most people could understand the runic inscriptions. The historical origins of the runes came from the days when Germanic warbands raided people living south of them, in present day Italy. Scholars debate whether the runes were derived from an Old Italic alphabet or perhaps from an Etruscan script.

The Germanic warbands would have brought back the alphabet from those raids to the south. The Norse people, however, knew that Odin had discovered the runes as he hung himself on Yggdrasil, the world tree, for nine days. If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon , or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living. Note : all links on this site to Amazon. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something.

So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site. Runic alphabet Little is known about the origins of the Runic alphabet, which is traditionally known as futhark after the first six letters.

Notable features The direction of writing in early Runic inscriptions is variable. Later they settled down into a left to right pattern Word divisions were not generally recognised in Runic writing, although one or more dots were occasionally used for this function.

Types of runic inscriptions include: 'Hrolf was here' type inscriptions on cliff walls, large rocks and buildings grave stone inscriptions, often with who carved the runes and who was buried, and also who made sure the stone was raised. The trade inscriptions are often carved on wooden rune sticks.