Runes: Clues to Uncovering the Past
The runic alphabet is an ancient Germanic alphabet that was used throughout Northern Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Iceland from the first century C.E. well into the Middle Ages. This alphabet, used by the Anglo-Saxons and shared with other Germanic peoples, was brought to England at the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions . While runes enjoyed widespread usage among the peoples of the area, there is no concrete agreement as to the origin of this writing system. Runes fell into disuse as the Roman alphabets became the preferred script of most of Europe, but their forms and meanings were preserved in inscriptions and manuscripts. The alphabet is referred to as the (Old English) futhorc or (Germanic) futhark, after the first six letters . Runic letters consisted mostly of intersecting straight lines and were designed to be engraved on stone, wood, metal or bone. Their essential purpose was to serve as a simple means of communication or a practical method of correspondence.
Many of the letters in the runic alphabet appear to have been borrowed from other alphabets, such as the Greek, the Etruscan, and the early Roman alphabets. However,
where and when runes were invented is not known. They hold obvious similarities with the Roman alphabet which led early scholars to believe that the script first appeared among Germanic people close to the Roman Empire, with the implication that they were an adaptation of the more prestigious alphabet for barbarian purposes. Since runes were used as a practical method of correspondence, the alphabet was developed out of necessity. Although runes were designed to serve as a simple means of communication or correspondence, most runic in...
... middle of paper ...
...ught of as a single script or language. A range of related scripts, used widely for different languages and purposes, must be recognized. The total number of known runic inscriptions is probably in the region of five thousand, with the great majority of those being in Sweden. Norway has over one thousand inscriptions, and Denmark has around seven hundred. Anglo-Saxon England has around seventy inscribed objects .
The study of early runes is of great importance because they provide accounts of a time for which no other evidence survives. Runes provide a glimpse into the antiquated societies from which our society evolved and an understanding of the etymology of our language. Although their practicality eventually became outdated and they were replaced with the Roman alphabet, remnants of the runic system still survive and are of continuing interest today.
There are runes and magic in the narratives of the poem Beowulf and The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, an Iceland saga representing 1000 years of oral traditions prior to the 1300’s when it was written.
Regarding the runes on the sword hilt, G. Stephens in his Handbook of Runic Monuments maintains that the only Anglo-Saxon runic inscription on a sword hilt is on the Gilton sword, and that it is unintelligible (Cramp 128).
In the Old English poem Beowulf and in the Icelandic The Saga of the Volsungs, a saga representing oral traditions dating back to the fourth and fifth centuries, we see the mention of runes, which were used with connotations of magic or charms.
In Beowulf we see the mention of runes used with connotations of magic or charms. Examining historic evidence, we find that early Englishmen used runes sometimes with connotations of magic and sometimes without such implied meanings.
In the Old English poem Beowulf we see the mention of runes, which were used with connotations of magic or charms. Examining evidence from historic times, we find that early Englishmen were fully conversant with the Germanic runic alphabet and that runes did have special connotations.
Writing is perhaps the most important building block of communication - after verbal speech, of course. Writing, like most of human civilization, has its roots in ancient Mesopotamia. The first writing systems began in a style known as cuneiform (Cuneiform, 2013). These wedge-shaped markings have their roots in Sumerian culture and were used predominantly for record keeping and accounting. At the archaeological site of Uruk in what is modern day Iraq, a great wealth of knowledge has been gained from the artifacts located there. Uruk was a ceremonial site and is home to the world’s oldest known documented written documents (Price and Feinman, 2013). The documents discovered list quantities of goods that may have been stored at Uruk, leading archaeologists to believe that writing in this part of the world was developed primarily to keep lists of transactions and stockpiled quantities of goods located at the site.
Cuneiform was the first ever form of writing. The Sumerians were the main inventors of this writing. The symbol as we know them now consist of lines and wedges. One of the
Orly Goldwasser makes the claim that the alphabet was invented by Canaanites who were directly influenced by Egyptian hieroglyphics. He suggests that Egyptian hieroglyphics made it possible for the alphabet to be invented. She explains that the Canaanites likely used hieroglyphics as models and taking small sections of the pictograms and using them in a way to represent sounds. She clarifies that he thinks it’s likely that for some of the letters, they used objects from their own world as models instead of hieroglyphics. She further argues that these Canaanites were not sophisticated scribes, but rather were illiterate, based on his belief that they could not read hieroglyphics. She takes this position based on his observations of letters
In every society and culture writing is very important by which it allows us to transmit ideas or knowledge for others to see. Writing allows us to look back at information from centuries ago and understand what it was like. According to chapter 12 “The two indisputably independent inventions of writing were achieved by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia somewhat before 3000 B.C. and by Mexican Indians before 600 B.C. Egyptian writing of 3000 B.C. and Chinese writing (by 1300 B.C.) may also have arisen independently” (Diamonds, pg. 218). Other cultures may have adopted writing by ideas inspired by theses writing systems. Diamonds also points out that Sumerian Cuneiform is one of the oldest writing systems. One way the writing system was developed was by using clay tablets to write on by using pointy objects to scratch the surface. He also describes three basic strategies in writing that were used such as logograms, syllables, and letters that are in the alphabet. The alphabet that we use today was developed due to blue print copying. He continued to describe the...
The origin of this font can be traced back to the 1920’s when a German typeface designer, Paul Renner, created it. A German professor of the Bauhaus school, Jakob Erbar created the first geometric sans-serif typeface. It was designed for pure functionality, which was based on a circle, square and triangle. After this, Renner decided to improve on the typeface and improved it to be the font we know today.
Writing really emerged separately in three regions independently of one another. Those regions are Central and South America, Mesopotamia, and Asia. It is generally accepted that writing (Cuneiform) came about in Mesopotamia as a means of documenting transactions and keeping track of merchandises. Let's say, one mark on a clay tablet intended to be one unit of something (bushel of grains, livestock, etc.), two marks intended to be two unit, and so on. From there individuals understood that if you could represent numbers in writing, then you could as well characterize words. In this way, individuals could communicate with each other deprived of having to be physically present. The Mesopotamian form of writing progressed into all western and Middle Eastern writing form used in the present day.
Beowulf is a poem written in Old English and is the oldest surviving work written in this language. It is considered
It was no longer enough for the 26 letters of the alphabet to function only as phonetic symbols. The industrial age transformed these signs into abstract visual forms projecting a variety of shapes to be consumed by the public eye.
civilization. They started the Olympic games. Greeks come up with the idea of an alphabet
The earliest writing systems were pictographs that varied within appearance, structure, and meanings. Some of the earliest writing systems were used in temples, where scribes recorded amounts of grain collected, as well accurate information about seasons and rituals used in practice. As time progress, the system of writing became more sophisticate within other civilizations developing more letters in their writing systems. The Egyptians developed hieroglyphics, and other writing systems. The Sumerians developed a writing system called cuneiform that was later adapted by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Ancient people developed system of mathematics, astronomy, and calendars that regulate time and know when to harvest crops. With ancient people having the ability to write, they created great feats of literature like the famous narrative poem The Epic of Gilgamesh. Ancient people like the Babylonians also developed architecture with amazing feats like ziggurats, and famous landmarks like The Hanging Gardens of