History of the Runes

What is the Elder Futhark?

The Elder Futhark is the oldest runic alphabet, used by the Germanic peoples of northern Europe from about AD 150 to 800. It is named after its first six letters: F, U, Th, A, R, K.

From the 8th century it gave way to the 16-sign Younger Futhark in Scandinavia, and to the extended Anglo-Saxon Futhorc in Britain.

Its 24 signs fall into three groups of eight. Each group is an aett (plural aettir), Old Norse for family or kin, named after its first rune or the god tied to it: the aett of Freyr and Freyja (starting with Fehu), of Heimdall (with Hagalaz) and of Týr (with Tiwaz).

The oldest inscriptions

One of the oldest known rune inscriptions is the word "harja" on the Vimose comb from Denmark, dated to around AD 160.

The oldest complete row of all 24 signs in order is on the Kylver stone on Gotland, Sweden (around AD 400). The order of the futhark we know today comes largely from rows like this.

What were runes used for?

Runes are first of all a script. They were carved into wood, stone, bone and metal: on weapons, jewellery and memorial stones, as names, marks of ownership, dedications and short protective formulas such as alu and laukaz.

The Roman historian Tacitus, writing his Germania in AD 98, describes Germanic tribes cutting marked slips from a fruit-bearing tree, scattering them on a white cloth and drawing lots. Whether those marks were runes is not known; it is disputed.

Archaeology gives no direct evidence that runes were read by drawing stones as they are today. Rune reading is largely a modern reconstruction, and this app presents it as one.

Modern rune reading

Esoteric interest in the runes began in the late 19th century and turned into today's practice of reading them in the second half of the 20th.

The book that spread it around the world was Ralph Blum's The Book of Runes, published in 1982. Drawing partly on the structure of the I Ching, Blum gave each rune a meaning for reading.

The blank rune

The unmarked stone found in some sets has no place in the Elder Futhark or in Viking Age finds. It entered reading with Ralph Blum's book in 1982, when the spare blank stone packed with commercial sets was read as "the unknown".

This app does not use a blank rune.

Reversed runes

Reading a rune that lands upside down with a different, usually shadowed meaning is modern too, borrowed from reversed cards in tarot. Old inscriptions know no such rule.

Nine runes are symmetrical, look the same either way up and are read upright only: Gebo, Hagalaz, Nauthiz, Isa, Jera, Eihwaz, Sowilo, Ingwaz and Dagaz.

Before a reading

Modern readers begin with a small pause: a quiet place, a few deep breaths, and the question held clearly in mind. Some lay out a cloth and draw the stones onto it.

The runes are not a prophecy but a mirror to think with. Whatever the stone says, the choice and the path are yours.