Runes- The alphabet of Odin
Part one- the history of the Rune alphabet
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According to the Eddas, the poetic saga of the Norse Gods, the Runic alphabet was a gift from Odin. The word ‘rune’ means ‘whisper,’ or ‘secret wisdom.’ A selection from the Eddas tells of their discovery. Odin hangs for nine nights upon the world tree, wounded, without food or water; finally, he sees the reflection of the runes in the water:
“Wounded I hung on a wind-swept gallows For nine long nights, Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odhinn, Offered, myself to myself The wisest know not from whence spring The roots of that ancient rood.
They gave me no bread, They gave me no mead, I looked down; with a loud cry I took up runes; from that tree I fell.”
The runes originated around 200 B.C.E., as magical symbols engraved in stone; they were developed into the first Rune alphabet, the “elder” Futhark (‘futhark’ being a transliteration of the first six letters), an alphabet of twenty four characters. Many permutations and revisions over the years produced several variants, including the ‘elder’ and ‘younger’ futhark, and the Danish “short twig” script. Eventually, the sixteen character alphabet became the most commonly used.
An epic “Rune poem,” written in Old English around 1000 C.E., outlined the metaphorical and divinatory meanings of the characters, which at that time numbered at thirty three.
The following table gives the characters of the Elder futhark and their divinatory meanings:
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Do the odinist runes have any ulterior meaning?
Your Rune have been an inspiration and great help in my designing a new series of board games.
I have included a link to your website on mine. Many thanks!
Wayne
Part two isn’t opening! I clicked on the link but it says 404 error
Hi Vlad, I will try and run that down for you. Adapting pages from the old structure imposed by about has been a nightmare.
Any word on getting the symbols back up?
Hi Nick- they should be working now.
How would you write (to defend life) in the alphabet of Odin?
Algiz mannez, maybe
The pictures for the runes is not showing
maybe because im using google chrome :’(
Aplogies, it seems the folder was corrupted. Will attempt a fix soon.
Is still broke i got a 404 error as well
Hmm, working from my end.
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