Younger Futhark Runic Dictionary
Runes to English and English to Runes
| Have you ever come across a runic inscription from the Viking age and wanted to know what it meant - in English?
There's no easy solution, even with a readily available dictionary.
Let's assume that the dictionary below includes your runic inscription.
To provide a translation, a runic dictionary
should show the runic inscription you want translated, followed by
the Old Norse meaning of those runes - transliterated into
the Latin alphabet - and then the English definition of the Old
Norse word(s). If you
are at all unfamiliar with the runes- and their usual
"alphabetical" order - you would not find the search
easy.
The 16 runes of the Viking Age, or younger, futhark were used in Scandinavia for three centuries after c. 700 AD. This limited set of glyphs meant that many of the runes were forced to represent several phonemes. Add the lack of a "published" standard set of runes and it meant that runic inscriptions were only an approximation of the Old Norse words they stood for. Further, misspellings were rampant. The table below provides just a limited sample of what such a dictionary would look like. Given a runic inscription you might want to translate, you would have to match those runes with the runic entries in the left columns below. The sample demonstrates the challenges involved and shows that a dictionary with thousands of entries would be only marginally useful. It would probably be easier to learn Old Norse... |
Younger Futhark Runes to English
| Runes | Old Norse | English |
|---|---|---|
      |
fuÞark | Futhark, a runic alphabet |
   |
fultars | Foldarr, a male name |
|
fôður | father |
 |
uritar | do wrong (probably), incorrect |
|
ok | and |
|
uis | knows |
 |
viking | Viking, a raid |
|
ve(n)tr | winter |
|
utar | Óttarr, a male name |
 |
þur uiki | May Thor Hallow (Thor rules, maybe?) |
|
tore | Tore, a male name |
|
þruþar | Þrud, a goddess |
|
rúnar | runes |
|
rit | wrote |
|
reisti | raised |
|
kuinnk | woman & protection, safe conduct, mercy, quarter, pardon, promise of peace |
|
kunukR | king |
|
kirkiu | church |
 |
horna | horn |
|
|
haraltr | Harold, a male name |
|
niþar | Nidaros, A Viking town now called Trondheim |
|
ek | I, myself |
 |
ept | after |
|
auþun | Audun, a male name |
|
auja | luck |
|
aiftir | after, in memory of |
|
æirikar | Eirik, a male name |
|
|
alauin | Alawin, a male name |
|
sverð | sword |
|
skálpr | scabbard |
|
skera | to cut (vt) |
|
stein | stone |
|
starkr | strong |
|
tólf | twelve |
|
brøÞr | brother |
|
bjôrn | Bjorn, a male name |
 |
muþur | mother |
|
mér | me |
|
maÞr | man |
|
litil | little |
A Sample
Younger Futhark Runic Dictionary
| This is just a small sampling of English words translated into Old Norse and that translation converted to the appropriate Younger Futhark runes. We will be adding to this list frequently. Don't see the word you're looking for on the list? Let us know at info@vikingsofbjornstad.com. |
English to Younger Futhark Runes
| English | Old Norse | Runes |
|---|---|---|
| cut (vt) | skera | |
| eight | átta | |
| five | fimm | |
| four | fjórir |  |
| horn | horna | |
| I, myself | ek | |
| king | kunukR | |
| knows | uis | |
| little | litil | |
| luck | auja | |
| man | maÞr | |
| May Thor Hallow (Thor rules, maybe?) | þur uiki | |
| me | mér | |
| mother | muþur | |
| Nidaros, A Viking town now called Trondheim | niþar | |
| nine | níu | |
| one | einn | |
| Óttarr, a male name | utar | |
| raised | reisti | |
| runes | rúnar | |
| scabbard | skálpr | |
| seven | sjau | |
| six | sex | |
| stone | stein | |
| strong | starkr | |
| sword | sverð | |
| ten | tíu | |
| Þrud, a goddess | þruþar | |
| three | þrír | |
| Tore, a male name | tore | |
| twelve | tólf | |
| two | tveir | |
| Viking, a raid | viking | |
| winter | ve(n)tr | |
| woman & protection, safe conduct, mercy, quarter, pardon, promise of peace | kuinnk | |
| do wrong (probably), incorrect | uritar | |
| wrote | rit | |
