Runes were first and foremost a script – practical, everyday, carved into wood and stone. And yet a magic still clings to them today.
Hardly anything is as romanticised as the runes. In fact they were above all one thing: a script. With them people carved names, marks of ownership, memorial inscriptions and short messages – mostly into wood, bone or stone.
Runes consist almost entirely of vertical and diagonal lines, hardly any curves. The reason is practical: they were carved into wood, and horizontal lines would have been lost in the grain. The form followed the material.
The oldest runic row is the Elder Futhark with 24 characters, in use from roughly the 2nd to the 8th century. It takes its name from the first six runes: F-U-Th-A-R-K. The 24 runes are arranged in three groups of eight, the so-called aettir. In the Viking Age the row was shortened to 16 runes (Younger Futhark), while in England it was expanded to as many as 33 (Futhorc).
That runes were also used for protective formulas and in cult is attested – the very word ‘rune’ carries the meaning ‘secret’ within it. But the idea of runes as a pure oracle or magic system is largely modern. We keep it honest: the interpretations rest on the medieval rune poems and modern practice.
You will find all 24 runes with their meaning in the Rune Lexicon – each with its own detail page. Write your own name in real runes with the Rune Translator.