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Rune Pages HomeI: What Are the Runes II: A Brief History of the RunesIII: The Rune PoemsIV: The Old English Rune PoemV: Translation & Commentary of the 1st AEtt of the Rune Poem VI: Translation & Commentary of the 2nd AEtt of the Rune PoemVII: Translation & Commentary of the 3rd AEtt of the Rune PoemVIII: Translation & Commentary of the Additional Rune VersesIX: Rune MagicAppendix A: The Common Germanic or Elder FutharkAppendix B: The Old Norse or Younger FutharkAppendix C: WordhoardAppendix D: BookhoardEric Wodening's Web Site

It must be noted that Óðinn's winning of the runes was performed as a typical sacrifice to the god. Ancient sources pertaining to the Germanic peoples, from the Romans to the Icelanders, indicate that sacrifices to Óðinn were hanged and run through with a spear. Óðinn then was sacrificed "himself to himself," as the Hávamál says. Turville-Petre states that this is "The highest conceivable form of sacrifce...the sacrifice not of a king to god, but of god to god." He also points out that it is "of such a kin as is related in Scripture of the sacrifice of Christ (Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North, p. 48)."

According to Edred Thorsson, in hanging upon the World Tree Óðinn made himself, the subject, the object of his own work. He became "omnijective." By doing so he met with the "dark realm of Hel--the unconscoius--and merges with it wile keeping his wits (Thorsson, p. 191)." Turville-Petre interprets the imagery of Óðinn hanging on the World Tree as the god actually being "in the company of the dead, sharing in the wisdom of that they possess. But this is nearly the same as to say the god was himself dead (Turville-Petre, Myth and Religion of the North, p. 49)." In focusing upon himself and, in effect, dying, Óðinn could obtain occult knowledge, that is, the runes.

At the same time, it seems possible that Óðinn could have ultimately received the knowledge of the runes through more than introspection or death. In the Hávamál Óðinn states that he "peered beneath me." Apparently, then, Óðinn was looking at the base of the World Tree. This is significant, as it is the Well of Wyrd that rests at the base of the Tree. According to Paul Bauschatz, the Well of Wyrd contains all past actions, actions which continue to influence events in the present (Bauschatz, The Well and the Tree, pp. 3-29). Containing the entirety of the past, the Well of Wyrd would also hold the secrets of the universe, those mysteries which the Germanic peoples called the runes.

Once Óðinn learned the runes he may have disseminated them among the gods, men, the elves and so on. Hávamál verses 142-143 hint at this. It tells of staves that Fimbul (a byname of Óðinn) dyed, Ginnregin (generally assumed to be the gods as a whole) shaped, and that  Hropt (a byname of Óðinn) wrote, then names the individuals who apparently first used the runes among various entities (Óðinn among the gods, Dáin among the elves, and so on). Sigdrífumál may also hint at this, as Óðinn names the various things (the shield which stands before the gods, the ears of the Sun's horses, the bear's paw, and so on) on which the runes have been written and then remarks that the runes have often been scraped off from objects and then sent abroad, naming the various entities (the gods, the elves, mankind) who have them.

Regardless, it makes sense that once Óðinn had learned the runes he would spread knowledge about them throughout the universe. This is apparently how the Germanic peoples believed that mankind came to know of the runes. After Óðinn had won them he brought knowledge of them to the various entities that inhabit the universe, among them mankind.
 

Of course, it must be kept in mind that runes and runestaves are two related, but somewhat different things. While the above tells us how the Germanic peoples (at least the Old Norse speakers) believed mankind came to learn of the runes, it tells us nothing of how the runestaves themselves were developed (as the mysteries of the universe the runes existed before man even did). The question remains, then, of how the rune row was created.

Like the meanings of the runes themselves, the origins of the runestaves are shrouded in mystery. In the past scholars have theorised that the runestaves evolved from Latin, Greek, or North Italic scripts.

The foremost supporter of the theory that the runestaves evolved from Latin letters was Danish scholar L. F. A. Wimmer. Wimmer noted the similarity in the shapes of particular runestaves and Latin letters, which led him to believe that one man had created the original rune row based on the Latin alphabet. Wimmer believed that this took place around the third century CE (Elliot, Runes: an Introduction, p. 4).

The foremost objection to Wimmer's theory is that many of the runestaves simply do not resemble Latin letters. More important, the earliest runic inscriptions occured in the north (Denmark and Norway) around the third century. The third century would be too late for the runestaves to have been invented, for they already appear to have been in use (Elliot, Runes: an Introduction, pp. 5-6). Of course, an earlier date would make it possible, if not probable, that the rune row was derived from the Latin alphabet.

The foremost proponent that the rune row was derived from the Greek alphabet was O. V. Friesen. He maintained that it was invented among the Goths and was derived primarily from both capital and cursive forms of Greek letters. He believed this took place in the Black Sea area sometime around the third century.

There are perhaps more objections to Friesen's theory that the rune row derived from Greek letters than Wimmer's theory that they derived from Latin. Naturally, the third century would have been too late for the invention of the runestaves, but even if one moves the date up by a few hundred years, there are still  hurdles to surmount before accepting Friesen's theory. It must be pointed out that Friesen depended heavily on Greek cursive letters as evidence for much of his theory and that in many cases the cursive forms upon which he relied were the exception rather than the rule. Similarly, there is very little archaeological evidence to support the assumption that the runestaves were invented in the Black Sea area by the Goths and then spread northward from there (Elliot, Runes: an Introduction, pp. 5-6).

A third theory, and perhaps the most popular today, is that the runestaves were derived from North Italic alphabets used in the Alpine regions of Italy. Like the Latin alphabet, these scripts derived from the Etruscan alphabet. They were in use until the first or second century when they were finally superseded by the Latin script. Like the runestaves, the North Italic alphabets could be written either right to left or left to right  H. Arntz believes that one of the Germanic tribes said to be in the Alpine regions by Roman authors could have encountered North Italic writing as early as the fourth century BCE. From this they evolved the futhark as we know it and by the second century BCE it had already began its spread northward (Elliot, pp. 8-9). We do know that Germanic tribes did indeed encounter North Italic writing. In 1812 a helmet was unearthed at Negau near the border of Austria and Yugoslavia. Inscribed upon the helmet are the words hargasti teiwa, which indicates that someone who spoke Proto-Germanic knew the North Italic script and used it in writing his own language.

It must be noted that this theory gives sufficient time for the runestaves to be in use in Denmark and Norway in the third century CE. A major objection that can be made to this theory is that the shapes of many of the runestaves do not resemble North Italic writing at all. This problem could be solved when one considers the symbols often found in rock carvings which appear to predate the runestaves themselves. Many of these symbols resemble many  of the runestaves, so much so that it seems possible that whoever invented the runestaves could have adapted some of the North Italic letters for the rune row's use and derived the other staves from these ancient symbols (Elliot, p. 7).

Though we cannot say for certain, it seems likely that the Common Germanic rune row was invented some time between the fourth century BCE and the first century CE. It was apparently developed by an individual familiar with North Italic script who adapted letters from that alphabet and symbols used by the Germanic peoples for use in the rune row.
 

The changes in the Frisian language also represented many of the changes that would be seen in Old English. Whether the Frisians brought the new rune row with them to Britain or whether the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes adopted it while still on the Continent cannot be said. Regardless, it would become the rune row used in Anglo-Saxon England. For this reason it is called the Anglo-Frisian rune row.

These would not be the final changes in the Anglo-Frisian rune row. Starting in the eighth century yet more runestaves were added. It must be pointed out, however, that some of these staves are not properly runes, but "pseudo-runes." That is, they were never used in inscriptions and appear to have been invented by antiquarians fascinated by the runic script.

In England the runestaves were never actively suppressed by the church and even appear in Christian documents. Regardless, they fell out of use by the ninth century when they were overtaken by the Latin script even for the purposes of inscriptions.
 

Though today we speak of the Younger Futhark as if there is only one, in reality there were two different Old Norse futharks--the Danish futhark and the Norwegian-Swedish futhark. Both futharks shared the same phonemes and apparently the same rune names, though the shapes of the runestaves sometimes differed.

As might be expected of a script which often uses a single stave to represent several different sounds, the sixteen  rune row apparently proved impractical for writing.  Eventually a system of "pointed runes" developed, whereby a runestave which denoted several sounds would have a point or dot added to it in a particular place to differentiate between sounds. This appears to have started in Denmark and spread from there.

Unlike the Anglo-Frisian rune row, the Younger Futhark did not fall completely out of use. The runestaves were being used well into the Middle Ages, so much so that Iceland eventually banned their use. It is quite probable that at no time in Scandinavia or Iceland has there not been someone who knew how to write using runestaves.