Occult Alphabets / 01Runes and Ogham
Before pen and ink, the peoples of the North and of Ireland entrusted their words to stone, wood and metal. This section tells the story of two scripts born on the edges of the Roman world: the Germanic runes and Irish Ogham. It begins with the origins, from the first second-century inscriptions to the theories of a Latin or North Italic model, and follows the different runic rows, from the twenty-four-sign Elder Futhark to the sixteen-rune Viking row and the Anglo-Saxon futhorc. Several runes have an article of their own, read through the medieval rune poems. Then come famous monuments such as the Jelling and Rök stones, the golden horns of Gallehus and the Kylver stone, together with the myth of Odin in the Hávamál. For Ireland, the notched alphabet, the ogham stones and the kennings of the Bríatharogam. The section closes with medieval runes, runic calendars and the modern revival, told with due caution.
ᚠ-01 · 3 minThe origins of the runes: where Germanic writing began
From the earliest second-century inscriptions to the Latin, Greek and North Italic theories: how and when the Germanic peoples began to write in runes.
ᚠ-02 · 3 minThe Elder Futhark: the twenty-four runes and their three families
Structure, names and sounds of the Elder Futhark, the 24-sign runic alphabet used from the 2nd to the 8th century and divided into three groups called ættir.
ᚠ-03 · 3 minThe Younger Futhark: sixteen runes for the Viking Age
Why the Scandinavian runic alphabet shrank from 24 to 16 signs, how long-branch and short-twig runes worked, and where their inscriptions survive.
ᚠ-04 · 3 minThe Anglo-Saxon Futhorc: the runes of England and Frisia
From 24 to 33 runes: the story of the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, from the Thames seax to the Franks Casket and the Ruthwell Cross, and Cynewulf's runic signatures.
ᚠ-05 · 3 minThe Kylver stone: the oldest complete futhark
Found on Gotland in 1903, the Kylver stone preserves from around 400 AD the first complete row of all 24 runes, carved on the inside of a grave.
ᚠ-06 · 3 minFehu, the first rune: cattle, wealth and strife
Fehu opens the futhark: from the Germanic word for cattle to movable wealth, here is how the English, Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems describe it.
ᚠ-07 · 3 minThurisaz, the rune of the giant and the thorn
Thurisaz, the third rune of the futhark: the giant of the Norse myths, the thorn of the English poem and the letter þ still alive in Icelandic today.
ᚠ-08 · 3 minAnsuz, the rune of the gods and of speech
Ansuz, the fourth rune, bears the name of the Æsir: from Odin in the Icelandic poem to the mouth of the English one, the story of a contested sign.
ᚠ-09 · 3 minRaido, the rune of the journey and the ride
Raido, the fifth rune of the futhark, means riding or journey: its name, its R-like shape and the ironic verses of the medieval rune poems.
ᚠ-10 · 3 minThe rune poems: the runes explained in medieval verse
The Old English, Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems: three medieval texts that preserve the names and traditional meanings of the runes.
ᚠ-11 · 3 minThe Jelling stones: Denmark's birth certificate
The two Jelling rune stones, raised by Gorm the Old and Harald Bluetooth in the tenth century, tell the story of the birth of the Christian Danish kingdom.
ᚠ-12 · 3 minThe Rök stone, the longest riddle in the runic world
In Östergötland, the ninth-century Rök stone bears the longest known runic inscription: a father, a dead son, Theodoric and runes in cipher.
ᚠ-13 · 3 minThe golden horns of Gallehus: a lost treasure and a carved verse
Found in Jutland in 1639 and 1734, stolen and melted down in 1802: the story of the golden horns of Gallehus and their famous runic inscription.
ᚠ-14 · 3 minOdin and the Hávamál: the myth of the discovery of the runes
Hanging for nine nights on the windswept tree: how the Hávamál of the Poetic Edda tells of Odin's sacrifice and his winning of the runes.
ᚠ-15 · 3 minOgham, the notched alphabet of ancient Ireland
Twenty notched signs along a line: the structure, origins and legends of Ogham, the script of ancient Ireland credited to the god Ogma.
ᚠ-16 · 3 minThe ogham stones: names carved across Ireland, Wales and Scotland
Some four hundred stones with Ogham inscriptions, from Kerry to Wales: formulas, kin names and bilingual texts that helped scholars decipher the script.
ᚠ-17 · 3 minThe Bríatharogam: the Ogham letters told in riddles
The Bríatharogam, the “word ogham”, describes each letter with short kennings credited to Morann, Mac ind Óc and Cú Chulainn. History and meanings.
ᚠ-18 · 3 minRunes and ancient Italy: the North Etruscan alphabets of the Alps
Lepontic, Camunic, Raetic and Venetic: the Alpine alphabets derived from Etruscan, the Negau helmet and the theory of a link with the Germanic runes.
ᚠ-19 · 3 minMedieval runes and runic calendars: the long life of a script
From dotted runes to the Bryggen sticks, from the Codex Runicus to perpetual calendars used into the nineteenth century: the runes after the Viking Age.
ᚠ-20 · 3 minThe runic revival: antiquaries, Romantics and twentieth-century uses
From Johannes Bureus to Ole Worm, from Wagner to Guido von List: how the runes were rediscovered, idealised and then misused from the 17th to the 20th century.