Rune Phonetics: How To Read And Write In Elder Futhark Runes
ᚱᚢᚾ ᚠᛟᚾᛖᛏᛁᚲᛊ - ᚺᚨᚢ ᛏᚢ ᚱᛁᛞ ᚨᚾᛞ ᚹᚱᛇᛏ ᛁᚾ ᚱᚢᚾᛊ
It's all in the sounds
Once you learn the correct pronunciation for each Rune, a whole new world of language will open up to you.
You will find the many similarities between European languages and the origins of certain words.
You will also find it easier to learn a new language simply because you’ll already know a lot of the basic sounds! Amazing, right? Here we come Svenska, Norsk and Deutsch.
The Runic alphabet is not the same as an American English alphabet...
And this is because the Runic alphabet originated from Europe & Scandinavia. Most of the sounds are entirely different – thus when transcribing an English word into Runes, we do so by phonetic (sound) value, not by visual letter.
For instance, the way an American would transcribe an English word will probably be different than someone from the UK or Australia or other English speaking countries, even certain American accents if you want to take it that far. This has to do with the way words are pronounced.
There are many different and accurate ways to transcribe English words into Runes – in other words, there is more than one way to skin a cat (don’t worry, I love cats and would never do that).
In a nutshell, as long as you understand how to pronounce each Rune (letter) – forming the letters into words should be easy for you.
I strongly recommend clicking the Rune meanings button above for audio pronunciation
(Or click each Rune name below to be taken to each individual Rune)
Fehu
"Feh-hoo"
ᚠ
Letter: F
Sample word: Freyja
ᚠᚱᛖᛃᚨ
Uruz
"Ooor-rooz"
ᚢ
Letter: U (ooo sound)
Sample word: Ultimate
ᚢᛚᛏᛁᛗᛖᛏ
Thurisaz
"Thoor-eee-saz"
ᚦ
Letter: TH
Sample Word: Thor
ᚦᛟᚱ
Ansuz
"Awn-zooz"
ᚨ
Letter: A (ah sound)
Sample Word: All
ᚨᛚ
Raidho
"rye-d-ho"
ᚱ
Letter: R (rolled R)
Sample word: Ragnarok
ᚱᚨᚷᚾᚨᚱᛟᚲ
Kenaz
"keh-nawz"
ᚲ
Letter: K & C
Sample word: Calm
ᚲᚨᛚᛗ
Gebo
"geh-boh
ᚷ
Letter: G (hard G)
Sample word: Gods
ᚷᚨᛞᛊ
Wunjo
"woon-yo"
ᚹ
Letter: W & V
Sample words: Wolf - Vanir
ᚹᚢᛚᚠ - ᚹᚨᚾᛁᚱ
Hagalaz
"hawg-ah-laz"
ᚺ
Letter: H
Sample word: Huginn
ᚺᚢᚷᛁᚾ
Nauthiz
"now-theez"
ᚾ
Letter: N
Sample word: Not
ᚾᚨᛏ
Isa
"eee-sah"
ᛁ
Letter: I (short I)
Sample word: Equator
ᛁᚲᚹᛖᛃᛏᛟᚱ
Jera
"yair-ah"
ᛃ
Letter: American Y - Europe J
Sample word: Yule - Julfest
ᛃᚢᛚ - ᛃᚢᛚᚠᛖᛊᛏ
Eihwaz
"ay-waz"
ᛇ
Letter: EI (long I)
Sample word: Iron
ᛇᚱᛟᚾ
Perthro
"pear-throw"
ᛈ
Letter: P
Sample word: Protector
ᛈᚱᛟᛏᛖᚲᛏᛟᚱ
Algiz
"al-geez"
ᛉ
Letter: Z
Sample word: Zeit
ᛉᛇᛏ
Sowilo
"so-wee-lo"
ᛊ
Letter: S
Sample word: Spirit
ᛊᛈᛁᚱᛁᛏ
Tiwaz
"tee-waz"
ᛏ
Letter: T
Sample word: True
ᛏᚱᚢ
Berkano
"bear-kano"
ᛒ
Letter: B
Sample word: Bear
ᛒᛖᚱ
Ehwaz
"ay-waz"
ᛖ
Letter: E (short E sound)
Sample word: Empath
ᛖᛗᛈᚨᚦ
Mannaz
"mawn-awz"
ᛗ
Letter: M
Sample word: Muninn
ᛗᚢᚾᛁᚾ
Laguz
"lah-gooz"
ᛚ
Letter: L
Sample word: Luna
ᛚᚢᚾᚨ
Inguz
"ing-ooz"
ᛜ
Letter: NG
Sample word: FarmiNG
ᚠᚨᚱᛗᛁᛜ
Dagaz
"dah-gaz"
ᛞ
Letter: D
Sample word: Dream
ᛞᚱᛁᛗ
Othala
"oh-tha-la"
ᛟ
Letter: O (long O sound)
Sample word: Óðinn
ᛟᚦᛁᚾ
I know that is a lot of information to take in if you are new to the Runes!
But over time and with enough exposure it becomes really easy. I have been doing this for the better part of my life, so I make it extremely easy for you by doing the Runic transcriptions for you (for your jewelry) – IF this is what you choose.
This is actually how The Wicked Griffin was born. At the time, there was no accurate Runic transcription jewelry available, so I took my two loved skills (jewelry making and the Runes) and combined them!
Very important stuff...
To be as phonetically accurate as possible, SILENT letters, which are common in the English language – are NOT used when transcribing into Runes. This is because each Runic letter is accounted for phonetically (sound). Double letters are also unnecessary.
Phonetic
Visual
Things to watch out for...
ALWAYS REMEMBER that the English letters are very different in sound than the Runic letters, for example we must not assume that an English E is actually the Rune Ehwaz – UNLESS the E in the word actually sounds the same. This applies to most of the Runic alphabet.
Don’t forget that a lot of English words will be near impossible to transcribe fully phonetic. This is because the languages are so different. They are complex yet limiting between the two and it is our job as English speakers to find the happiest medium. For all you Europeans out there, this does not apply to most of you
Online Rune converters are almost always inaccurate because they are using American English letters and associating them with the (Germanic) Runic letters simply by the WAY THEY LOOK – not by the way they SOUND. Please beware with Rune converters online, especially if you are planning on getting something tattooed on you.
ᛁᚠ ᛃᚢ ᚲᚨᚾ ᚱᛁᛞ ᚦᛁᛊ – ᛃᚢ ᚨᚱ ᚨ ᛏᛟᛏᚨᛚ ᛒᚨᛞᚨᛊ
I know that this is a basic introduction to writing and reading in Runes and I hope that it will serve you well. If I have enough people request it, I *may* consider creating an online course to go really in-depth into each Rune/Letter. Because it would be so in-depth with charts, videos and audio, possibly some PDF downloads, it would have to be a paid course – so please keep that in mind. If a full course is something you would be interested in, please contact me and let me know!