Runic alphabet | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2018-12-17

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Runic alphabet


00:02:35 1 History and use
00:04:45 1.1 Origins
00:08:48 1.2 Early inscriptions
00:10:49 1.3 Magical or divinatory use
00:15:26 1.4 Medieval use
00:17:58 1.5 Runes in Eddic lore
00:19:52 2 Runic alphabets
00:20:01 2.1 Elder Futhark (2nd to 8th centuries)
00:21:02 2.2 Anglo-Saxon runes (5th to 11th centuries)
00:22:44 2.3 "Marcomannic runes" (8th to 9th centuries)
00:23:36 2.4 Younger Futhark (9th to 11th centuries)
00:24:29 2.5 Medieval runes  (12th to 15th centuries)
00:25:39 2.6 Dalecarlian runes (16th to 19th centuries)
00:26:22 3 Academic study
00:27:11 4 Body of inscriptions
00:27:57 5 Modern use
00:28:23 5.1 Esotericism
00:28:32 5.1.1 Germanic mysticism and Nazi symbolism
00:29:51 5.1.2 Modern neopaganism and esotericism
00:30:44 5.2 J. R. R. Tolkien and contemporary fiction
00:31:33 6 Unicode
00:33:05 7 See also



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SUMMARY
=======
Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets, which were used to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialised 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 or fuþorc (due to sound-changes undergone in Old English by the names of those six letters).
Runology is the study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology forms a specialised branch of Germanic linguistics.
The earliest runic inscriptions date from around 150 AD. The characters were generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianisation, by approximately 700 AD in central Europe and 1100 AD in northern Europe. However, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in northern Europe. Until the early 20th century, runes were used in rural Sweden for decorative purposes in Dalarna and on Runic calendars.
The three best-known runic alphabets are the Elder Futhark (around 150–800 AD), the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (400–1100 AD), and the Younger Futhark (800–1100 AD). The Younger Futhark is divided further into the long-branch runes (also called Danish, although they were also used in Norway, Sweden and Frisia); short-branch or Rök runes (also called Swedish-Norwegian, although they were also used in Denmark); and the stavlösa or Hälsinge runes (staveless runes). The Younger Futhark developed further into the Medieval runes (1100–1500 AD), and the Dalecarlian runes (c. 1500–1800 AD).
Historically, the runic alphabet is a derivation of the Old Italic scripts of antiquity, with the addition of some innovations. Which variant of the Old Italic family in particular gave rise to the runes is uncertain. Suggestions include Raetic, Venetic, Etruscan, or Old Latin as candidates. At the time, all of these scripts had the same angular letter shapes suited for epigraphy, which would become characteristic of the runes.
The process of transmission of the script is unknown. The oldest inscriptions are found in Denmark and northern Germany. A "West Germanic hypothesis" suggests transmission via Elbe Germanic groups, while a "Gothic hypothesis" presumes transmission via East Germanic expansion.