4/28/2024 0 Comments Elder futhark branch runes![]() Some scholars claim that the runes were derived entirely from the Greek or Latin alphabet, but most experts consider the futhark to be a mixture of various origins. The fuþark was created by speakers of a Germanic dialect to transcribe their language. The most northerly inscription is that of Kingigtorsuak in Greenland it contains secret runes. The sagas are written in Latin characters and the Þ, þ is borrowed from Old English manuscripts. On the other hand, Iceland, although colonized by the Vikings, did not experience the expansion of runic writing that occurred on the continent: there are about fifty inscriptions at most, and they are late. ![]() It is mainly funeral inscriptions, particularly abundant in Sweden. The peak of this writing system is thought to have been between the ninth and the eleventh century, at the end of the Viking Age. The use of this alphabet lasted in Sweden until the nineteenth century in a remote place in Dalarna, whereas in Denmark it was not used beyond the fourteenth century. However, the number of inscriptions relating to these peoples is very limited (more than fifty among the Anglo-Saxons), whereas among the Scandinavians, there are thousands. They are found among the Nordic Germans in the fourth century, but only in the second century among the other Germans, including the Anglo-Saxons who, after their conversion to the Latin alphabet, retained the use of a runic sign, namely Þ, þ (named þorn, thorn). There may have been earlier ones, but they have not survived because they must have been carved in wood, as many sagas attest. The oldest attested inscriptions are in Denmark and date from the first century (Vimose inscriptions). In the Scandinavian countries, where the runes were most widely used, the number of runes was reduced from the seventh century onwards to a system of 16 runes. There have been several types of runes, which have evolved over time, but also according to the people who used them. The runic alphabet, called fuþark after the name of its first six letters, initially had 24 signs. The runic alphabet or futhark - a term formed from the name of its first six letters, ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ - is an alphabet that was used for writing proto-Germanic languages by peoples who spoke these languages, such as the Scandinavians, Frisians and Anglo-Saxons.
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