Anglo-Saxon runes or Anglo-Frisian runes are runes that were used by the Anglo-Saxons and Medieval Frisians (collectively called Anglo-Frisians) as an alphabet in their native writing system, recording both Old English and Pre–Old Frisian (). Today, the characters are known collectively as the Futhorc ( ) from the first six runes and their sound values (). The futhorc was a development from the older co-Germanic 24-character runic alphabet, known today as Elder Futhark, expanding to 28 characters in its older form and up to 34 characters in its younger form. In contemporary Scandinavia, the Elder Futhark developed into a shorter 16-character alphabet, today simply called Younger Futhark.
Use of the Anglo-Frisian runes is likely to have started in the 5th century onward and they continued to see use into the High Middle Ages. By the 8th century, they were eventually overtaken by the Old English Latin alphabet introduced to Anglo-Saxon England by missionaries at the end of the 6th century. Futhorc runes were no longer in common use by the 11th century, but MS Oxford St John's College 17 indicates that fairly accurate understanding of them persisted into at least the 12th century.
History
The Anglo-Frisian runic row was a 28-type further development of the 24-type Elder Futhark (type = number of runes), introducing more runes and reworking some existing runes to fit the period language. Starting from around the 5th century, it was used in Britain and Frisia as part of the diffuse Anglo-Frisian cultured sphere. Around the 8th century, runic writing disappears from Frisia, but use continues in Britain.
In the 9th century, the now Anglo-Saxon runic row, was further developed and more runes were introduced, eventually becoming a 33-type runic row with some further unstandardized examples of runes existing. In its late stage, it was largely analogous to the Latin script, and disappeared in its favour during the High Middle Ages.
Usage and commonality is unclear. From at least five centuries of use, fewer than 200 artifacts bearing futhorc inscriptions have survived.
Origin The origin of the Anglo-Frisian runic row is unknown. One theory proposes that it was developed in Frisia and from there later spread to Britain. Another holds that runes were first introduced to Britain from the mainland where they were then modified and exported to Frisia. Both theories have their inherent weaknesses, and a definitive answer may come from further archaeological evidence.
Anglo-Frisian development The early futhorc was nearly identical to the Elder Futhark, except for the split of a into three variants āc, æsc and ōs, resulting in 26 runes. This was done to account for the new phoneme produced by the Ingvaeonic split of allophones of long and short a. The earliest known instance of the ōs rune may be from the 5th century, on the Undley bracteate. The earliest known instances of the āc rune may be from the 6th century, appearing on objects such as the Schweindorf solidus. The double-barred hægl characteristic of continental inscriptions is first attested as late as 698, on St Cuthbert's coffin; before that, the single-barred variant was used.
Anglo-Saxon development In England, outside of the Brittonic West Country where evidence of Latin and even Ogham continued for several centuries, usage of the futhorc expanded. Runic writing in England became closely associated with the Latin scriptoria from the time of Anglo-Saxon Christianization in the 7th century. In some cases, texts would be written in the Latin alphabet, and þorn and ƿynn came to be used as extensions of the Latin alphabet. Additionally, in texts such as Beowulf and The Exeter Book, Anglo-Saxon runes were sometimes used as ideographic runes alongside the Latin alphabet to abbreviate words; for example, ᛗ was sometimes used to abbreviate "mann". By the time of the Norman Conquest of 1066 it was very rare, and it disappeared altogether a few centuries thereafter.
Several famous English examples mix runes and Roman script, or Old English and Latin, on the same object, including the Franks Casket and St Cuthbert's coffin; in the latter, three of the names of the Four Evangelists are given in Latin written in runes, but "LUKAS" (Saint Luke) is in Roman script. The coffin is also an example of an object created at the heart of the Anglo-Saxon church that uses runes. A leading expert, Raymond Ian Page, rejects the assumption often made in non-scholarly literature that runes were especially associated in post-conversion Anglo-Saxon England with Anglo-Saxon paganism or magic..
Letters
The letter sequence and letter inventory of futhorc, along with the actual sounds indicated by those letters, could vary depending on location and time. That being so, an authentic and unified list of runes is not possible.
Rune inventory
Image Unicode Name Name meaning Transliteration IPA feh (feoh) wealth, cattle f /f/, [v] (word-medial allophone of /f/) ur (ūr) aurochs u /u(:)/ ðorn (þorn) thorn þ /θ/, [ð] (word-medial allophone of /θ/) os (ōs) The great god, Woden o /o(:)/ rada (rād) riding r /r/ cen (ċēn) torch c /k/, /kʲ/, /tʃ/ geofu (ġyfu) gift g /ɡ/, [ɣ] (word-medial allophone of /ɡ/), /j/ wyn (wynn) joy w /w/ hægil (hæġl) hail h /h/, [x], [ç] næd (nēod) plight, n /n/ is (īs) ice i /i(:)/ gær (ġēar) year j /j/ ih (īw) yew tree ï /i(:)/ [x], [ç] peord (peorþ) (unknown) p /p/ ilcs (eolh?) (unknown, perhaps a derivative of x (otiose as a sound but still used to transliterate the Latin letter 'X' into runes) sygil (siġel) sun (sail in rune poem?) s /s/, [z] (word-medial allophone of /s/) ti (Tīw) (unknown, originally god, Planet Mars in rune poem?) t /t/ berc (beorc) birch tree b /b/ eh (eoh) steed e /e(:)/ mon (mann) man m /m/ lagu (lagu) body of water (lake) l /l/ ing (ing) Ing (Ingui-Frea?) ŋ /ŋɡ/, /ŋ/ oedil (œ̄þel) inherited land, native country œ /ø(:)/ dæg (dæġ) day d /d/ ac (āc) oak tree a /ɑ(:)/ æsc (æsċ) ash tree æ /æ(:)/ ear (ēar) (unknown, perhaps earth) ea /æ(:)ɑ/ yr (ȳr) (unknown, perhaps bow or meaningless based on the name of the letter ur, compare other letters like cweorð ᛢ from peorð based on this pattern) y /y(:)/
The sequence of the runes above is based on The first 24 of these runes directly continue the elder futhark letters, and do not deviate in sequence (though rather than is an attested sequence in both elder futhark and futhorc). The manuscripts Codex Sangallensis 878 and Cotton MS have precede .
The names of the runes above are based on Codex Vindobonensis 795, besides the names ing and æsc which come from The Byrhtferth's Manuscript and replace the seemingly corrupted names lug and æs found in Codex Vindobonensis 795. Ti is sometimes named tir or tyr in other manuscripts. The words in parentheses in the name column are standardized spellings.
Image UCS Name Name meaning Transliteration IPA calc chalk? chalice? sandal? k /k/ gar spear ḡ /g/, [ɣ] (word-medial allophone of /g/) cweorð (unknown) q /k/? (for writing Latin?) stan stone st /st/ (unknown) (unknown) ę, ᴇ /ǝ/? (unknown) (unknown) į /e(:)o/? /i(:)o/? īor beaver? eel? /i(:)o/? (unknown) (unknown) c̄, k̄ /k/
The runes in the second table, above, were not included in Codex Vindobonensis 795: Calc appears in manuscripts, and epigraphically on the Ruthwell Cross, the Bramham Moor Ring, the Kingmoor Ring, and elsewhere. Gar appears in manuscripts, and epigraphically on the Ruthwell Cross and probably on the Bewcastle Cross. The unnamed rune only appears on the Ruthwell Cross, where it seems to take calc's place as /k/ where that consonant is followed by a secondary fronted vowel. Cweorð and stan only appear in manuscripts. The unnamed ę rune only appears on the Baconsthorpe Grip. The unnamed į rune only appears on the Sedgeford Handle. While the rune poem and Cotton MS present as ior, and as ger, epigraphically both are variants of ger (although is only attested once outside of manuscripts (on the Brandon Pin). R.I. Page designated ior a pseudo-rune.
There is little doubt that calc and gar are modified forms of cen and gyfu, and that they were invented to address the ambiguity which arose from /k/ and /g/ spawning palatalized offshoots. R.I. Page designated cweorð and stan "pseudo-runes" because they appear pointless, and speculated that cweorð was invented merely to give futhorc an equivalent to 'Q'. The ę rune is likely a local innovation, possibly representing an unstressed vowel, and may derive its shape from }. The unnamed į rune is found in a personal name (bįrnferþ), where it stands for a vowel or diphthong. Anglo-Saxon expert Gaby Waxenberger speculates that į may not be a true rune, but rather a bindrune of and , or the result of a mistake.
Combinations and digraphs Various runic combinations are found in the futhorc corpus. For example, the sequence ᚫᚪ appears on the Mortain Casket where ᛠ could theoretically have been used. Combination IPA Word Meaning Found on ᚩᛁ /oi/? ]oin[.] (unknown) Lindisfarne Stone II ᚷᚳ ~/dʒ/? blagcmon (personal name) Maughold Stone I ᚷᚷ ~/dʒ/ eggbrect (personal name) (an armband from the Galloway Hoard) ᚻᚹ /ʍ/ gehwelc each Honington Clip ᚻᛋ /ks/ wohs to wax Brandon Antler ᚾᚷ /ŋg/ hring ring Wheatley Hill Silver-Gilt Finger-Ring ᛁᚷ /ij/ modig proud/bold/arrogant Ruthwell Cross ᛇᛋ /ks/ BennaREïs king Benna (a coin of Beonna of East Anglia) ᛋᚳ /sk/, /ʃ/ fisc fish Franks Casket ᛖᚩ /eo/, /eːo/ eoh (personal name) Kirkheaton Stone ᛖᚷ /ej/ legdun laid Ruthwell Cross ᛖᛇ ~/ej/, [eʝ]? eateïnne (personal name) Thornhill Stone II ᛖᚪ /æɑ/, /æːɑ/ eadbald (personal name) Santi Marcellino e Pietro al Laterano Graffiti ᚪᚢ ~/ɑu/ saule soul Thornhill Stone III ᚪᛁ /ɑi/ aib (personal name) Oostum Comb ᚫᚢ ~/æu/ dæus deus (Latin) Whitby Comb ᚫᚪ /æɑ/, /æːɑ/ æadan (personal name) Mortain Casket
Usage and culture A rune in Old English could be called a (), or simply .
Futhorc inscriptions hold diverse styles and contents. Ochre has been detected on at least one English runestone, implying its runes were once painted. Bind runes are common in futhorc (relative to its small corpus), and were seemingly used most often to ensure the runes would fit in a limited space. Futhorc logography is attested to in a few manuscripts. This was done by having a rune stand for its name, or a similar sounding word. In the sole extant manuscript of the poem Beowulf, the rune was used as a logogram for the word (meaning "homeland", or "estate"). Both the Hackness Stone and Codex Vindobonensis 795 attest to futhorc Cipher runes.. In one manuscript (Corpus Christi College, MS 041) a writer seems to have used futhorc runes like Roman numerals, writing ᛉᛁᛁ⁊ᛉᛉᛉᛋᚹᛁᚦᚩᚱ, which likely means "12&30 more"..
There is some evidence of futhorc rune magic. The possibly magical alu sequence seems to appear on an urn found at Spong Hill in spiegelrunes (runes whose shapes are mirrored). In a tale from Bede's Ecclesiastical History (written in Latin), a man named Imma cannot be bound by his captors and is asked if he is using "" ('loosening letters') to break his binds. In one Old English translation of the passage, Imma is asked if he is using "drycraft" (magic, druidcraft) or "runestaves" to break his binds. Furthermore, futhorc rings have been found with what appear to be enchanted inscriptions for the stanching of blood.
Inscription corpus
The Old English and Old Frisian Runic Inscriptions database project at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany, aims at collecting the genuine corpus of Old English inscriptions containing more than two runes in its paper edition, while the electronic edition aims at including both genuine and doubtful inscriptions down to single-rune inscriptions.
The corpus of the paper edition encompasses about one hundred objects (including stone slabs, stone crosses, bones, rings, brooches, weapons, urns, a writing tablet, tweezers, a sun-dial, comb, bracteates, caskets, a font, dishes, and graffiti).