YOUNGER FUTHARK - ORIGINS AND HISTORY
At the start of the Viking Age, the unknown rune-masters in Scandinavia reformed the Elder Futhark. They reduced the Elder Futhark's 24 runes to 16 runes.
This alphabet is named the Younger Futhark or Viking runes since they were used by the Norse raiders.
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At that time, the language spoken by the various Germanic tribes underwent serious changes and development. The number of vowels grew and Anglo-Saxon Futhorc increased the number of runes to adapt them for the Old English but Scandinavians reduced the runes and simplified the futhark. The oldest Younger Futhark, traditional inscriptions are called Danish runes, the other variant is called Norwegian-Swedish (Rök) runes. The Danish runes are long-branch runes and Rök runes are short-twig runes.
More than 6000 runestones survived with runic inscriptions from the Viking period.
Further simplification of the Swedish-Norwegian runes is so-called Hälsinge runes also known as "staveless" runes.
The Younger Futhark in Scandinavia expanded and developed in so-called Medieval runes. They were in use until the 15th century. The medieval runes were used alongside the Latin alphabet for several centuries. The latest version of the runic script that was in use until the start of the 20th century were Dalecarlian runes.
THE RUNES FROM THE YOUNGER FUTHARK. RUNIC ALPHABET MEANINGS - VIKING RUNES GUIDE.
- ᚠ fé ("wealth") - The rune of money and wealth. Fé causes discord even between closest friends and family members.
- ᚢ úr ("iron"/ "rain") sudden danger or blessings.
- ᚦ Thurs ("giant") rune means "the god Thor, giant". The rune of brute force.
- ᚬ As/Oss means "one of the Æsir (gods)". The rune of divine order. The rune of justice and truth.
- ᚱ reið ("ride") "ride, journey" and represents growth.
- ᚴ Kaun ("ulcer"). Wisdom trough suffering.
- ᚼ hagall ("hail") means "hailstone". The rune of sudden change.
- ᚾ nauðr ("need") translates as need, distress, difficulty.
- ᛁ ísa/íss ("ice") means "ice". The rune of stillness and self-control.
- ᛅ ár ("plenty") means "year of good harvest".
- ᛋ sól ("sun") The rune of goddess Sol in the Germanic mythology. The rune of wholeness and success.
- ᛏ Týr the rune of god Tyr. Divine order. The rune of "victory" and "honour".
- ᛒ björk/bjarkan/bjarken ("birch") means "birch tree". The rune of the Goddess and birth.
- ᛘ maðr ("man"). The rune of the first man Mannus. The rune of planning, intelligence, and awareness. The rune symbolizes the continuity of the family.
- ᛚ lögr ("sea") The rune of life energy, feminine energies.
- ᛦ yr ("yew") Death rune. The rune of the underworld.