Diffusion of Runes (England and back)

Page, Raymond I. An Introduction to English runes. Woodbridge Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press, 1999

            By the fifth century AD ample archeological evidence points to runes being used in Norway, here and there in Sweden, they were fairly common in the Danish isles of Sjaelland, and Fyn. We also find a few pieces of Runic writing as far east as Ukraine (Kovel), Rozwadow (Poland), Pietroassa (Rumania), and szabadattyan (Hungary). It is impressive to learn that runes were found as far east as Ukraine, but the number of runes found in these locations suggests they are simply anomalies, and probably weren’t being used very often. The majority of the runes this early on are being found in Scandinavia.

            Due to the wide spread use of runes in Scandinavia, and the disputed but believable theory that the inventors of Runes were very familiar with the roman alphabet, the birth place of the runes can be placed in Denmark.

            From Denmark Runes spread into lower Saxony, early runic finds dating from about the fifth century AD show that the alphabets are almost identical, apart from a few differences in letter formation. On difference is the h-rune. In northern Germany the h-rune is represented with a single cross stave, where as in west Germany it uses a double cross stave.

            



             one of the earliest finds in England is a deers ankle bone found in a crematorium. The ankle bone is inscribed with a 6 runes. Five of these runes match up perfectly with both northern and western runes, but rune #4 is the h-rune with a single hash, suggesting that it comes from the northern German runes. The cremated remains were also found in pots that appeared to be of similar make to those of northern Germany, suggesting that the runes in England were inspired by the rune styles of northern Germany. Most of the earliest Runes found in England suggest an influence (because of this single cross stave in the h) from northern Germany.

   (Runes found on deer bone)

            The interesting thing though is that some time after the 7^th century, the single cross stave H is replaced with a double cross stave h, suggesting that the runes in England for some reason became more influenced by western Germany, then northern Germany.

            There is very little about runes that is clearly understood. The evidence we find here though is that the runes changed over time, and there is no clear indicator concerning what forces were affecting these changes in the Futhark during the 5^th and sixth centuries.       There is still so much we don’t understand about the political world in this era. Some evidence suggests that writing in the Futhark became very much more prevalent and necessary in modern day England then it was in many Germanic areas. If this were the case historically we could find an argument for the Anglo Saxons in Britain first adopting and using a northern style Futhark, after two hundred years there is no telling what changes may have occurred, but the change in Futhark letters may suggest an influx of western Germanic culture, and with it changes in the writing style.

            Runes were primarily used to write quick inscriptions, if they were used for keeping codex’s or tomes then we have no evidence of them today. Because of its use as a mythical writing system, to imbue power into weapons, or to simply state ownership, or in some cases to send a message to deity through a sacrificial animal or object, the writing of Futhark was much less developed then other writing systems, and much more fluid. Its writing system seems to vary a great deal based on region, and century, suggesting an absence of grammatical rules in regards to the script. 

Henrik Williams, "the origin of the runes"

 Williams, Henrik. “The Origin of the Runes.” Amsterdamer Beitrage Zur alteren Germanistik 45 (1996) 211-218.

at first glance it is easy to see how the runes came from the latin alphabet, if you look for example at symbols 17 and 18 for example, it is very easy to see that those symbols could have been derived from the latin t and b, you will find that these symbols represent the exact same phones as t and b respectively.

            That doesn’t mean there aren’t issues with this theory, rune 23 for example looks much more like the Greek Omega, and rune 8, which looks exactly like a P, instead represents the phone w. on top of those anomalies it is very difficult to figure out the origin of all the other symbols, some of them can be explained, but why were there so many changes made?

            There are three main camps of thought on the origin of runes, the first and currently most popular is the latin origins. This makes sense especially considering the cultural exchange that was going on between Germanic tribes, and Rome. The second theory is that Futhark is derived from the Greek alphabet, there is some evidence for this in the very runes, both rune 8 and rune 23 look similar to Greek letters. (it should be noted that rune 8 makes the w phone, where as in Greek it makes the r phone) lastly there are some who think the Runes were derived from the Etruscan alphabet.

            All prominent theories agree that the futhark msut be derived from a Mediterranean alphabet, but why haven’t we been able to come up with a conclusive answer? the fit between the form of a rune and its expected sound value is usually bad, none of the current theories can seem to explain this. The second issue is that the symmetry between the runic system and the letter inventory of the supposed classical source.

            To illustrate the difficulty of figuring out the origin of Futhark we can look to the rune 7 (looks like X) the phoneme for which is [g]. if futhark was derived from the Greek alphabet, why would they use the Greek letter chi (x) to represent the phone of the Greek letter gamma. The logic here is that if they used the Greek Gamma it would be in danger of getting confused with the rune 1. The main issue as you can see if that futhark is very similar to other alphabets, but not similar enough to make any one explanation fit right.

            Most likely futhark was developed around the birth of Christ, give or take a century. Given this timeline the most likely progenitors of futhark are Romans.

            When we examine the form of futhark we see that each rune is usually comprised of a vertical line, with lines coming off of it. You will notice that there is a total absence of horizontal lines. Theories suggest that this has to do with the nature of runes, they were most often carved, and because a horizontal line could easily be lost in the grain of wood, horizontal lines were discouraged. This is not a proven theory, but it does help provide insight into the shape of the runes. The strokes that are attached to the vertical lines never seem to go above or below the vertical lines. If we examine the latin alphabet, to make comparisons we must keep the rules of futhark form in mind, to explain differences.

            Below is a comparison between the form of the futhark, and the Roman alphabet. Not all of the symbols match up with the phones of the latin progenitor, but you can see where the ideas for each of these symbols was come up with. These derivatives were assumed because of the form rules of futhark.

one thing to keep in mind when pondering the change of futhark compared to original latin alphabet. The original latin alphabet has 5 superfluous letters(K, Q, X, Y, Z) the latin alphabet also does not recognize 8 phones from the Germanic languages.

these differences in phonemes would, and did create serious problems for the Germanic peoples who were adapting an alphabet to their language, it appears they made up for it by redesignating the phones of many latin letters. Another confusing bit is the organization of the futhark. The phonemes in futhark are in a very different order then the Latin alphabet, suggesting that after its initial creation, futhark was taken far from Roman influence. Without direct roman influence the futhark was probably reorganized to facilitate easier memorization, using poetry of some kind.

It is most likely that futhark is derived from the roman alphabet, using all 23 letters from the roman alphabet, with the invention of one German grapheme. It is also possible that after runes left the direct cultural influence of Rome, it was reorganized, and some how, if by mistake or some other reason, the graphemes were switched in certain cases. This does seem a bit far fetched, but it is by no means impossible. 

texts and contexts of the oldest runic inscriptions

Looijenga, Tineke. Texts and contexts of the oldest runic inscriptions. Leiden, NLD. Brill academic publishers, 2003.

The emergence of Runic writing

            Before extensive interaction between the Germanic tribes, and the Roman empire there is little to no evidence that Germanic tribes had a real concept of personal ownership, at least where the land is concerned. Scholars agree that Germanic tribes probably operated in a similar way to earlier celts. Although some personal property was owned, and there is the suggestion that cattle was privately owned, but the land was worked in a more communal way, meaning food and wealth that comes from excess food was al had in common amongst Germanic tribes.

            After interacting with the romans we find that land is being owned privately. The ownership of land began creating distinct classes within the Germanic society. The emergence of distinct classes is found around 100 AD and onward by an increase in battles between Germanic peoples through out the Rhine, and s far away as den mark.

            The emergence of social classes is very important for the creation, and use of writing. Who ever created writing would have needed enough free time to learn to read, and write in a foreign language so they could thoroughly understand the concept of reading and writing. After the concept of an alphabet was understood, it could be modified to fit the life style and culture of your own people. In this way futhark most likely came into existence.

            It is most likely that runic writing was inspired by roman writing, meaning that we should be able to find extensive clues with roman and Germanic cultural exchanges, and we can find many clues.

            The first bit of evidence we have is the knowledge that german tribes made a decent living by enlisting large numbers of German soldiers as merceneries for the Roman military. Those who served as merceneries were often given Roman citizenship after an honorable service of about 20-25 years. (merceneries retired at the age of 40) these soldiers would have often returned to their homelands after living amongst romans for all of their adult lives, it is not hard to believe that some of them (and many of them served as officers) would have had to learn to read and write to function properly in the Roman military.

            One thing that was granted to Roman soldiers after honorable service was often land, this may be where the idea of owning land came into the Germanic life style.

            One important change in culture was a decline in the customary cremation that Germanic tribes practiced. Germanic tribes begin instead practicing (mostly for the very wealthy) inhuman burials, where you bury the body with their posessions. These finds have been extremely valuable because they show us what Germanic peoples valued, and it gives us quite a few examples of runic inscriptions. Many older men were buried with roman goods, like golden drinking cups, and roman spurs, warriors tended to be buried with their weapons, and some older men were also buried with their weapons (suggesting they had been warriors).  Not only do the roman goods suggest an increased interest in the roman way of life, but also with the burial ritual it suggests a roman way of thinking.

            Runic writing was developed in the early first century AD. It was most likely created in the southern rhine region, because this region has the most influence with Romans. Regions to the north have very little evidence for working as merceneries for the Romans, they were also a pre-literate society. The chances of a pre-literate society who didn’t actively involve themselves with a totally literate society understanding and coming up with their own alphabet, is very unlikely.

            The only issue with this though is that the earliest runic inscriptions are found very far north, in Denmark, which is a long way from the lower Rhine. Why is it that evidence for the Futhark can be found so far away? It may have to do with specific alliances, and trade routes between the northern and southern tribes.

            The earliest Runic find, discussed earlier, a comb that reads ‘Harja’ is most likely a comb that originated in a southern Germanic tribe also known as “harii” it is possible that this southern tribe either traded with, or had an alliance with a powerful tribe in the north, and that explains why some of the earlier finds are found as far north as they are.

            After Futhark was created and taught to a select few, it is very easy to believe that it was kept at least semi secret. Rune has one meaning, which is to carve, or furrow, which is a suggestion that it was mostly carved into items, but a second meaning for Rune is ‘secret, something hidden’. It is not hard to believe that after the first soldiers came up with Futhark, it spread to craftsmen. Futhark became a special secret among soldiers and craftsman. A craftsman would only share the secret of futhark with other craftsman, adding to the allure and prestige of their work.

            There is evidence that many soldiers were able to inscribe their names, or their marks in runic, but it is very likely that the majority of soldiers were not literate, but just copied down their own symbols from a master copy. The evidence for this is that most of the potsherds with markings of ownership or ‘makers marks’ appear to be simply copied down, and sloppily.

            Runes were used for may different purposes, and the giving of gifts with ones own name inscribed in the gift had significant meaning, depending upon who was giving the gift, and who was receiving.

            For example if someone of an upper class gave a gift to someone of lower class, the receiver was expected to pay the giver back in services. A soldier who receives a sword from his lord is expected to fight for that lord, almost in exchange for the great gift.

            If someone of a lower class gave a gift to someone of upper class, it was in exchange for favours. For example, the receiver might favor the giver in a legal dispute, or by a profitable marriage for his family.

            Finally a gift given from one lord to another, was expected to be returned with a gift of similar worth and value. The idea was basically that whenever they looked at the gift that had been given to them, they would see the name inscribed in runes, and remember the favour they owed, or service that was due to be rendered.

            It is possible the the comb with the inscription ‘harji’ was from the harri to the northern tribe, it was probably just a part of a larger gift, this might have been a way for one tribe, to plead for favours, or peace, or an alliance with another tribe. When they looked at the gifts, they would be reminded of the friendship and kindness between the two tribes, and decide to act in their favor.

            Partially due to the supposed secret nature of runes, a makers mark became a huge status symbol amongst craftsmen. There was much mystery and allure behind runes evidenced by the fact that many finds in bogs have been inscribed with runes after they were destroyed, but before they were tossed in to the bogs. The runes may have acted as messages to the Gods, as some form of tribute to deity.

            The average Germanic person did not understand writing, so there was a magic tied into the runes, a soldier would prefer to have a sword with runic inscriptions on it, it was much more likely that this blade was magical, or blessed by diety. By the same token having a comb or even a ladle that had runes carved into it suggested the common tool was magical. The secrecy and magic behind runes helps explain why so few Runic inscriptions have been found, and why they never seem to be found for writing stories on papyrus or parchment.

            Futhark seems to be an alphabet that was born primarily from an era of conflict. It did not arise out of need, so much as it arose out of two cultures clashing, and mixing. Futhark did not cause the many wars and battles amongst Germanic tribes, but the same things that caused those battles, gave rise to futhark. A changing culture, and the painful mixing process that comes as a society advances.