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Katie Buckheit Ariana Tart-Zelvin. What are runes?. Alphabet system that predates Old English Used for writing and divination and magic Used all over Europe, Scandanavia, British Isles. Alphabets. Origins…. Mostly unknown Theories Created independently
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Katie Buckheit Ariana Tart-Zelvin
What are runes? • Alphabet system that predates Old English • Used for writing and divination and magic • Used all over Europe, Scandanavia, British Isles
Origins… • Mostly unknown • Theories • Created independently • Created in Southern Europe and brought north by Germanic tribes • Created using Latinate and/or Etruscan alphabet
Origins… • Mythological Origins • Divine origin (600 CE) • The root “run” of “rune” means secret, mystery, whisper • Evidence in literature
Poetic Edda Poem: Havamal That is now proved, what you asked of the runes, of the potent famous ones, which the great gods made, and the mighty sage stained, that it is best for him if he stays silent
History • Names derived from the first six letters of the alphabet • Three main variations • Elder Futhark • Anglo-Saxon Futhorc • Younger Futhark
Elder Futhark • 150-800 A.D. • Used in Eastern Europe, Scandavia • Contained 24 runes split into 3 groups of 8 (aetts)
Anglo-Saxon Futhorc • Runes were brought to Britain in the 5th century by Anglo-Saxons • Letters were added • Entire class of labiovelars • Several unique runes (dipthongs) • Commonly used on jewelry, weapons and stones • Only a few manuscripts found
Younger Futhark • Scandanavia (Denmark and Sweden) • Evolved over many years, became stable around 800 A.D. • Used until 17th century • Eliminated some runes • Greater number of phonemes • Voiced and voiceless consonants merged in written language • Number of spoken vowels increased
History • Runic alphabet was replaced by Latin alphabet because of Christian missionaries in 700 A.D. • Runes were preserved only for special ceremonies and mystical purposes
Uses • Writing and divination
Divination • Each rune has a meaning associated with a Norse god • Example rune: wunjo • Meanings-glory, success, reward, joy, achievement • Magical uses- promote success, improve motivation • Related god- Baldr (light/beauty) • Corresponding letters in Modern English: w,v
Example • Wunjo • wunjo pronunciation
Modern Uses • Still seen in some religions • Neopaganism, Wiccan • Used in Tolkien’s The Hobbit • On maps to emphasize relation to dwarves • Used in the Harry Potter series in relation to fortune-telling
Sources • http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/ • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_alphabet • http://www.tarahill.com/runes/aett_1.html • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldr • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/runes.html • http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rocksandrunes.com/images/newRunes.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.rocksandrunes.com/runes.shtml&usg=__W08NmP22FkqiM7bDxtl2MShyzQM=&h=558&w=400&sz=72&hl=en&start=5&um=1&tbnid=Tz_zcBWnX9T3PM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=95&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dancient%2Brunes%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DX