The Runic alphabet, its origin.

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter. The Scandinavian variants are also known as futhark (or fuþark, derived from their first six letters of the alphabet: F, U, Þ, A, R, and K); the Anglo-Saxon variant is futhorc (due to sound changes undergone in Old English by the same six letters). Runology is the study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics.

The earliest runic inscriptions date from around 150 AD, and the alphabet was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet along with Christianization by around 700 AD in central Europe and by around 1100 AD in Scandinavia; however, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in Scandinavia, longest in rural Sweden until the early twentieth century (used mainly for decoration as runes in Dalarna and on Runic calendars).

The three best-known runic alphabets are the Elder Futhark (around 150 to 800 AD), the Old English Futhorc (400 to 1100 AD), and the Younger Futhark (800–1100). The Younger Futhark is further divided into the long-branch runes (also called Danish, although they were also used in Norway and Sweden), short-twig or Rök runes (also called Swedish-Norwegian, although they were also used in Denmark), and the Hälsinge runes (staveless runes). The Younger Futhark developed further into the Marcomannic runes, the Medieval runes (1100 AD to 1500 AD), and the Dalecarlian runes (around 1500 to 1800 AD).

The origins of the runic alphabet are uncertain. Many characters of the Elder Futhark bear a close resemblance to characters from the Latin alphabet. Other candidates are the 5th to 1st century BC Northern Italic alphabets: Lepontic, Rhaetic and Venetic, all of which are closely related to each other and descend from the Old Italic alphabet.

Each rune most probably had a name, chosen to represent the sound of the rune itself. The names are, however, not directly attested for the Elder Futhark themselves. Reconstructed names in Proto-Germanic have been produced, based on the names given for the runes in the later alphabets attested in the rune poems and the linked names of the letters of the Gothic alphabet. The asterisk before the rune names means that they are unattested reconstructions. The 24 Elder Futhark runes are:

Rune	UCS	Transliteration	IPA	Proto-Germanic name	Meaning
	ᚠ	f	/f/	*fehu	"wealth, cattle"
	ᚢ	u	/u(ː)/	?*ūruz	"aurochs" (or *ûram "water/slag"?)
	ᚦ	þ	/θ/, /ð/	?*þurisaz	"the god Thor, giant"
	ᚨ	a	/a(ː)/	*ansuz	"one of the Æsir (gods)"
	ᚱ	r	/r/	*raidō	"ride, journey"
	ᚲ	k	/k/	?*kaunan	"ulcer"? (or *kenaz "torch"?)
	ᚷ	g	/g/	*gebō	"gift"
	ᚹ	w	/w/	*wunjō	"joy"
	ᚺ ᚻ	h	/h/	*hagalaz	"hail" (the precipitation)
	ᚾ	n	/n/	*naudiz	"need"
	ᛁ	i	/i(ː)/	*īsaz	"ice"
	ᛃ	j	/j/	*jēra-	"year, good year, harvest"
	ᛇ	ï (or æ)	/æː/(?)	*ī(h)waz/*ei(h)waz	"yew-tree"
	ᛈ	p	/p/	?*perþ-	meaning unclear, perhaps "pear-tree".
	ᛉ	z	/z/	?*algiz	unclear, possibly "elk".
	ᛊ	s	/s/	*sōwilō	"Sun"
	ᛏ	t	/t/	*tīwaz/*teiwaz	"the god Tiwaz"
	ᛒ	b	/b/	*berkanan	"birch"
	ᛖ	e	/e(ː)/	*ehwaz	"horse"
	ᛗ	m	/m/	*mannaz	"Man"
	ᛚ	l	/l/	*laguz	"water, lake" (or possibly *laukaz "leek")
	ᛜ ᛝ	ŋ	/ŋ/	*ingwaz	"the god Ingwaz"
	ᛟ	o	/o(ː)/	*ōþila-/*ōþala-	"heritage, estate, possession"
	ᛞ	d	/d/	*dagaz	"day"

 

OE, its literary monuments.

The historical sources and the archeological evidence agree that the major influx of Germanic immigration into England came in the mid-fifth century. They refer to a British tyrant, who invited the Saxons, under leaders Hengest and Horsa, to help his country resist attacks from barbarian Picts and Scots. If this story is true, the invitation was a gross miscalculation.

According to Bede, the forebears of the Anglo-Saxons came from three great Germanic groups on the Continent: the Saxons, the Angles, who lived north of the Saxons on the Jutland Peninsula, in modern Schleswig, and the Jutes, who are supposed to have lived north of the Angles, also on the Jutland Peninsula. Although the Germanic invaders must at first have had little greater organization than isolated war bands, they quickly united into larger territorial groups under kings. Seven kingdoms were set up on the territory of what we call now England. The centers of power in Anglo-Saxon England were to rest in the three kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex. These were the kingdoms on the northerly and westerly frontiers of the area under Anglo-Saxon control. Their constant border wars with Picts, Scots and British kept their armies in fighting shape. The other kingdoms were Kent, Sussex, East Anglia and Essex. These kingdoms were often at war with each other, and especially with great powers, Wessex and Mercia. Ironically, Viking attacks were to lead to a permanently united English kingdom under Wessex in the ninth century. Due to the talents of King Alfred the Great, his overcoming the Danes in 886, he was recognized as the overlord of all the English not subject to the Danes. He entered into a formal treaty with the Danes, in order to extract from them the best possible treatment of the English living in Danish-dominated territories.

Old English literature is second only to Old Norse in the volume and variety of texts.

Poetry. The dialect of Old English, in which it was written was West Saxon, with occasional Anglian and Northumbrian forms.

Beowulf (eighth century). The central character is the legendary Geatish hero, for whom the poem is named, and its central episodes are three fights that Beowulf has with various monsters in order to save allies, kin, and country.

In addition to Beowulf, there are a number of other (shorter) examples of secular heroic poetry in Old English. These include a fragment dealing with a battle between Danes and Frisians, known as Fight at Finnsburg; another fragment dealing with the story of Walter of Aquitaine, known as the Waldere; and two later poems dealing with historic battles against Anglo-Saxon enemies: The Battle of Brunanburh, and The Battle of Maldon.

Prose. Before the reign of King Alfred the Great (871-99), prose writing in Anglo-Saxon England was primarily in Latin. When the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons commenced at the end of the sixth century, Latin writing began among English. The earliest documented texts are saints’ lives. Eighth century is associated with the Venerable Bede (673-735), a Nothumbrian monk. Besides his saints’ lives, Bede wrote treatises on Latin Grammar, metric and rhetoric, commentaries on the scriptures, and the like. Most important work of his is the Ecclesiastical History of the English people. He gives a detailed account of the history of the Church in England, and the early history of the Anglo-Saxons.

The most striking literary product credited to Alfred’s time is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. This is the history of Anglo-Saxons beginning with the birth of Christ, and continuing to the year 1154.