The old z rune was kept (transliterated in the context of Old Norse as ʀ) but moved to the end of the rune row in the only change of letter ordering in Younger Futhark. The j rune was rendered superfluous due to Old Norse sound changes, but was kept with the new sound value of a. The second ætt lost the æ and p runes.The first ætt was reduced to its first six letters, fuþąrk, losing the g and w runes (the old a rune is transliterated as ą for Old Norse as the phoneme it expressed had become more closed).Other changes are the consequence of sound changes that separate Old Norse from Proto-Norse and Common Germanic (mostly changes to the vowel system). The main change was that the difference between voiced and unvoiced consonants was no longer expressed in writing. īy the late 8th century, the reduction from 24 to 16 runes was complete. Ög 136 in Rök, which uses Elder Futhark runes to encrypt part of the text, and Ög 43 in Ingelstad, which uses a single Elder Futhark rune as an ideogram, are also sometimes included as transitional inscriptions. Literacy in the Younger Futhark became widespread in Scandinavia, as witnessed by the great number of Runestones (some 3,000), sometimes inscribed with almost casual notes.ĭuring a phase from about 650 to 800, some inscriptions mixed the use of Elder and Younger Futhark runes.Įxamples of inscriptions considered to be from this period include DR 248 from Snoldelev, DR 357 from Stentoften, DR 358 from Gummarp, DR 359 from Istaby, and DR 360 from Björketorp, and objects such as the Setre Comb (N KJ40). During the Migration Period Elder Futhark had been an actual 'secret' known to only a literate elite, with only some 350 surviving inscriptions. Usage of the Younger Futhark is found in Scandinavia and Viking Age settlements abroad, probably in use from the 9th century onward. 1500–1910).įurther information: Old Norse orthography 1100–1500) and the Latinised Dalecarlian runes (ca. Their use declined after the Christianization of Scandinavia most writing in Scandinavia from the 12th century was in the Latin alphabet, but the runic scripts survived in marginal use in the form of the medieval runes (in use ca. The lifetime of the Younger Futhark corresponds roughly to the Viking Age. The Younger Futhark is divided into long-branch (Danish) and short-twig (Swedish and Norwegian) runes in the 10th century, it was further expanded by the 'Hälsinge Runes' or staveless runes. Thus, the language included distinct sounds and minimal pairs that were written the same.

Also, the writing custom avoided carving the same rune consecutively for the same sound, so the spoken distinction between long and short vowels was lost in writing. The reduction, somewhat paradoxically, happened at the same time as phonetic changes that led to a greater number of different phonemes in the spoken language, when Proto-Norse evolved into Old Norse.

The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a 'transitional period' during the 7th and 8th centuries.

Elder futhark rune translator