Elder Futhark
| Elder Futhark |
|
|---|---|
| Type |
alphabet
|
| Languages | Proto-Germanic, Proto-Norse, Gothic, Alamannic, Old High German |
|
Time period
|
2nd to 8th centuries |
|
Parent systems
|
Phoenician alphabet
|
|
Child systems
|
Younger Futhark, Anglo-Saxon futhorc |
The Elder Futhark or Elder Fuþark, Older Futhark, Old Futhark, Germanic Futhark is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic tribes for the northwestern and Migration Period dialects. Its inscriptions are found on artifacts (including jewelry, amulets, tools, weapons, and runestones) from the 2nd to 8th centuries.
In Scandinavia, from the late 8th century, the script was simplified to the Younger Futhark, while the Anglo-Saxons and Frisians extended the Futhark which eventually became the Anglo-Saxon futhorc. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon and Younger Futharks, which remained in use during the Early and High Middle Ages, respectively, knowledge of how to read the Elder Futhark was forgotten until 1865, when it was deciphered by Norwegian scholar Sophus Bugge.
The Elder Futhark (named after the initial phoneme of the first six rune names: F, U, Th, A, R and K) consists of twenty-four runes, often arranged in three groups of eight runes called an ætt. (pl. aettir) In the following table, each rune is given with its common transliteration:
þ corresponds to [θ]. ï is also transliterated as æ, and may have been either a diphthong, or a vowel near [ɪ] or [æ]. z was Proto-Germanic [z], and evolved into Proto-Norse [ɹ], and is also transliterated as ʀ. The remaining transliterations correspond to the IPA symbol of their approximate value.
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