What is runic writing? History of Slavic runes. Minor runes and magic

In modern magical practices The Wends are considered Slavic runes today. Anton Platov, a researcher of the runic alphabets of the Slavic-Aryans, ten years ago reconstructed the sacred system of the ancient Slavs. He was followed by Oleg Sinko, an esotericist originally from Ukraine, who expanded the mantic and magical meanings of Vendian runic writing.

In terms of popularity, the Slavic runic alphabet lags behind the Scandinavian Futhark, common in Europe. Perhaps the reason lies in the fact that the runic writing of the Slavs requires immersion in mythology and extensive knowledge about the way of life of their ancestors.

Where did the Slavic runes come from?

Slavic runic writing - runitsa - originates, according to researcher V.A. Chudinov, since the times of the Lower Paleolithic. By runica we understand all types of the ancient runic alphabet: Boyan runes, Velesitsa, Karuna, Vendian runes, etc.

Eminent researchers of ancient alphabets believe that Slavic runes appeared due to the influence of the Greeks; according to another version, the Aryan alphabet appeared after mixing the Northern Etruscan script and the Ogham alphabet.

Among the evidence of the existence of Slavic runic writing are the Slavic-Aryan Vedas, the Book of Veles and ceramic fragments containing inscriptions that are practically impossible to decipher. The latter were found during archaeological excavations and belong to the Chernyakhov culture.

Official science refuses to acknowledge the existence of the official existence of the Slavic runica. The small number of fragments with inscriptions, the inability to decipher the signs, the differences between the symbols found in different territories - these are some of the reasons why the runic alphabet remains in a semi-legal position among other scripts.

Alphabet

It is difficult to correlate the runic with the alphabet, since the signs represent not letters, but syllables. To record texts, a certain algorithm is followed:

• arrange the signs in a row, 16 characters each;
• translated texts contain 32, 64 or more characters, every second character explains the previous one;
• one text suggests nine rows;
• lines are read from left to right, the next row is read from right to left.

The Vendian runic alphabet is used in esoteric practices. Researchers of runic writing have compiled a table in which they indicate the correspondence of the symbols to the letters of the Russian alphabet. You can start writing down texts in the runic alphabet, checking the table.

This group of symbols describes world laws, the main driving forces of the universe, the spiritual path along which every person passes during his life.

1. The world (“M”) symbolizes the divine part of human nature. The main archetype of the sign is Belobog. The outline of the symbol is similar to the image of the World Tree or a man stretching out his hands to the sky.
2. Chernobog (“Ch” and “C”) balances the previous symbol and symbolizes chaos. Represents the dark side of the “I”, which will have to be accepted and worked through.
3. Alatyr (“A”) is the center of the universe, the beginning and end of the world, the starting point of all roads and the source of all rivers.
4. Rainbow (“R”) is a road sign. Symbolizes the state of movement: physical and spiritual, means help on the way and an easy way out of a difficult situation.

The next group of signs tells us that the spiritual path in the Slavic tradition leads a person to the release of the divine principle within himself. A true warrior is considered only the one who goes through the battle with his own inertia and ignorance.

1. Need (“N”) is a symbol of fate from which one cannot escape, death, coercion and darkness. Need means a constrained consciousness, trials, financial difficulties.
2. Krada (“G” and “K”) is translated from Slavic as “sacrificial fire”. This is the rune of fire, embodied intention, loss of alluvial husks and purification.
3. Treba (“T”) is a sacrifice in which a person sacrifices himself. The symbol is also called the “Rune of the Warrior of the Spirit”.
4. Strength (“S”) represents integrity, which completes victory over oneself and symbolizes the ability to follow the chosen path.

In addition to the main four elements The Slavs identified a fifth substance - Rock, Spirit, which cannot be seen or touched with hands, but it lies at the basis of the universe.

1. Wind (“B”) belongs to the element of Air and symbolizes will, inspiration, wealth and wisdom.
2. Bereginya (“B”) personifies the element of Earth, motherhood, fertility and wealth.
3. Oud (“U”) is a fiery rune. The first meaning of the symbol is associated with male strength, passion for life, and fertility.
4. Lelya (“L”) is associated with the element of Water. This is intuition and knowledge, strength and fertility.
5. Rock (“X” and “B”) is considered a manifestation of the Spirit. The fifth element surrounds a person at every moment of existence, this is the essence of the universe.

The remaining runes in the runic alphabet of the Slavs cannot be grouped.

1. Is (“E”) – this is the vital force that moves living nature.
2. The support (“O”) in the outline shows two boundaries separating the three worlds from each other - Upper, Middle and Lower.
3. Dazhdbog (“D”) personifies all kinds of benefits, starting with true love and ending with material wealth.
4. Perun (“P”) symbolizes power, vitality and protection.
5. The source (“And”), on the contrary, demonstrates immobility. This “non-movement” contains the potential for development, strength at rest.

1. Introduction

2. Ancient Turkic runic writing

3. History of runic writing

4. A modern look at runes

5.Conclusion

6. References

1. Introduction

Runic writing itself is traditionally revered as art, and not an easy one. Runic writing belongs to the group of alphabetic writings, i.e. such writing systems in which each sign conveys a certain sound.

Runic writing has a number of characteristic features that distinguish it from the usual Cyrillic or Latin writing.

Runic writing allows signs to follow both from left to right and from right to left. In this case, the runes always unfold in the direction of the signs; thus, when written on the right hand, the runes will have their usual appearance, and when written on the left, they will be mirrored. Such “inverted” runes are sometimes called vand runes. This may seem unusual, but the tradition of unfolding runes in the direction of writing has great magical meaning - in this case, the runes always face forward along the direction of the inscription.

The word rune comes from an Old Norse root meaning "mystery". And this name was given not by modern scientists, who still have not solved the mystery of the origin of runic writings, but by the ancient Germans, who attributed magical powers to the signs.

Runic inscriptions are found in the most various parts Western Europe. Most of them were found in Sweden - several thousand. The earliest runic texts were found on the territory of the Jutland Peninsula and adjacent islands - they date back to the 3rd century. BC E. In addition, these inscriptions are available in England, Scotland, Norway, Iceland, Germany, France, Austria, Greece, Romania, and on the island of Berezan in the Black Sea. And even in our country, in Volyn, near the city of Kovel, a spear tip with a runic inscription was found. Runes were carved on a wide variety of objects, carved on stone, and minted on metal. Runic inscriptions and calendars carved on sticks in the form of a sword or staff, prayer books and appeals to pagan gods, magic spells and the names of the owners of weapons or jewelry, imprinted with runic signs, have survived to our time.

The purpose of this work is to study the topic: “Runic writing of the Turks: origins, history and modernity.”

The objectives of this work are: to describe the emergence of ancient Turkic runic writing, the history of runic writing, and the connection with the modern world.

2. Ancient Turkic runic writing

There is a general definition of the monuments of ancient Turkic writing as an extensive corpus of texts written in the runic, Uyghur, Sogdian, Manichaean, Syrian, Tibetan and Araboglyphic scripts, as well as the Brahmi script. In a narrower sense, ancient Turkic monuments mean only runic texts. A huge area of ​​distribution of monuments of runic writing has been established: from Orkhon to the Danube, from Yakutia to the Gobi. We have the first information about the monuments of Turkic runic writing from the time of Peter I, it was reported by the serviceman Remezov.

The scientific study of Turkic runic writing began in the first half of the 18th century. directed Russian Academy sciences by the famous expeditions of D.G. Messerschmidt and F.I. von Strallenberg, who visited the steppes of the Minusinsk Basin in 1721-1722. The collected materials and information about the monuments, which later received the designations E-32 and E-37, were published in 1729 by Z. Bayer in “Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg” and in 1730 by F.I. von Strahlenberg.

The famous discovery of the Orkhon inscriptions in Mongolia by N.M. Yadrintsev in 1889 introduced voluminous runic texts into scientific circulation, which made it possible to draw conclusions about the grammatical structure of the inscriptions. In 1893, the Danish philologist V. Thomsen deciphered the runic letter. Already in next year V.V. Radlov published translations of Orkhon texts, and in 1895, using in addition to his materials data from Finnish expeditions, translations of 40 Yenisei inscriptions.

The distinctive monuments of the Yenisei Valley are interpreted as “monuments of the Kyrgyz Kaganate.” According to this socio-ethnic classification, the monuments of the “Yenisei runic writing” also include some rock inscriptions and the text of the famous Sudzha stele in Mongolia. It is most likely that the Kyrgyz borrowed writing as a result of the victorious campaign of the ancient Turks in 711, who “established order in the small (i.e., then in decline) Kyrgyz people.”

Over the next half century, painstaking work on the search and publication of monuments of the Yenisei runic writing, as well as newly acquired research methods, made possible a great scientific achievement - in 1951-52. S.E. Malov publishes texts of Orkhon and Yenisei monuments.

It is the texts of the translations of this wonderful scientist that are given in this part of the “History of the Kyrgyz” resource, and unfortunately, for technical reasons, I was not able to reproduce the original runic and transcription fonts here.

Scientists believe that the ancient Turkic alphabet arose no earlier than the 7th century, perhaps in the first half. Runic texts are older than the second half of the 7th century. have not yet been discovered.

The problem of the origin of the ancient Turkic runic has not yet been resolved. There are several different points of view in science. The Sogdian version of the Aramaic hypothesis is considered the most substantiated. It is based on the similarity of the forms of a number of runic and Sogdian graphemes, which are considered Aramaic (Near Asian) in origin. V.A. Livshits established that the prototype for most runes was the Sogdian cursive script and only a small part of them could have been invented.

The ancient Turkic runic alphabet initially consisted of 37 or 38 characters of geometric outlines and, unlike the Sogdian prototype, the bal was well adapted for fixation on stone, wood, and metal. The runic quite accurately conveyed the phonetic features of the Turkic language. Most of The consonant signs had two variants of outline, depending on which vowel (front or back) this consonant was used with.

3.History of runic writing

Runes are a type of writing that is different in form and origin from the known alphabets of Europe and Asia. The root of the word "runes" is found in words of Germanic languages, having general meaning: whisper, whisper, mystery, secret, secret advice. From this, most researchers conclude that the runes were kept in the common spiritual heritage of the Germanic peoples and were associated with some secret oral tradition that conveyed the meaning, and not just the sound and design of these signs. Modern English word“to write” - to write - is related to the Old English word “writan” - “to cut, carve.” And we can still see runes carved on stones (now in museums). The origin of runes among the Scandinavians (and these are the Germans who went north to the Scandinavian Peninsula) was considered divine. According to Scandinavian mythology, Odin himself, the god of witchcraft and poetry, military frenzy and creative inspiration, found them by sacrificing himself. For nine nights he hung on the World Tree - Ash Yggdrasil, pierced by his own spear, “sacrificing himself to himself.” And as a result, I learned sacred signs - runes. For the Scandinavians, runes were inextricably linked with poetry, including the magical poetry of verses - spells. And God Odin taught people poetic and runic art. Germanic-Scandinavian runes differ from other alphabets in Europe by their active use for magical purposes. The Roman historian Tacitus spoke about fortune telling by the continental Germans using signs similar to runes in the 1st century AD. And in Scandinavia, archaeologists have discovered runic signs inscribed in the 2nd century AD. ABOUT runic magic it is directly stated in the “Elder Edda” - an Old Icelandic collection of songs about Scandinavian gods and heroes, as well as in Old Icelandic sagas and strands (short stories) dating back to the Viking era (VII - XI centuries). Magical alphabet Any alphabet can be used for magical purposes: writing spells and requests in the most ordinary way, but on unusual or unusually used things (like messages to the dead or appeals to spirits). Sometimes special ingredients are used for this, such as “magic ink” or specially prepared paper, fabric, tree bark, etc. There is another method favored by many sorcerers: these are various types of encryption. Historians of magic know the famous letter squares, such as ABRAKADABRA or SAPERO. Perhaps the first encryption was used specifically for magical purposes, and not for espionage (sorcerers, like spies, are representatives of very ancient professions, but sorcerers are still ancient). This was done so that the uninitiated would not understand what was written, and so that there would be no dire consequences from reification magic words and combinations of sounds. However, the alphabet itself does not become magical just because of this. At the same time, there are purely magical alphabets, and even languages, like Enochian. The Enochian language was the brainchild of the famous 17th century English alchemist and spirit seer John Dee and his partner, the medium Edward Kelly. They found it during their mystical experiments. Nowadays, this language is used by Thelemites (followers of A. Crowley), especially enlightened “black magicians” and occultists of the Western European tradition. And the Germanic runes are a rare version of the alphabet, which was both magical and ordinary alphabetic at almost the same time. Therefore, it may have been preserved as a system to this day. This is due, on the one hand, to the wide dissemination of magical knowledge, its incorporation into the flesh and blood of the people. (It’s not for nothing that, of all the Indo-European peoples, it was among the northern Germans that Odin, the sorcerer god, becomes the supreme deity of the pantheon.) And on the other hand, with the Scandinavians’ need for a developed alphabetic system - for trade, correspondence and the like. This was already connected with their wide political, military, trade and social activities throughout Europe of that time. Instead of inventing a new alphabet, the North Germans used their old magical alphabet, called "Futhark". Runic rows The Germanic runic alphabet is called “futhark” (based on the first six letters of the row – f – u – th – a – r – k, the emphasis in this word is on the first syllable – “futhark”). However, there are several such “futharks”. The most famous are the Elder Futhark, Younger Futhark and Northumbrian Futhark. Elder runes (Elder Futhark) The runic series, called the Elder Futhark, is the most ancient of the ones known to us, also called the “Common Germanic Futhark”. Images of this runic system are found throughout Scandinavia, and they date back to the 2nd – 8th centuries. ad. Its signs are symbols rather than letters and primarily denote certain concepts or principles. The runes of this series are traditionally, even in ancient sources, divided into three groups of eight runes (this is also shown in the figure). Each such group is called an attom. The order of the signs in the Elder Futhark is clearly fixed, although sometimes there were changes in the places of the last two runes. The runes of the Elder Futhark are generally the same. Only the spellings of the Sovelu (Siegel) rune and the Inguz rune differ noticeably. It is highly likely that the runes of the Elder Futhark were originally a magical system. But along with magical purposes, under the influence of the existing alphabets of other peoples, these runes began at some point to serve informative purposes. There was no point in the Scandinavians inventing a completely new alphabet for writing, and they used existing characters. Thus, the runes went from being semantic, when each sign denoted a certain concept, to becoming alphabetic: the sign became a letter and a separate sound. It is the “letter” records that become the most understandable for modern researchers. The original names of these very semantic runes are unknown. And the modern names of runes are the result of research by linguists and the simplification of these names among esoteric runologists. In this book we will talk specifically about the runes of the Elder Futhark. But for comparison and a general understanding of the situation and the evolution of runic writing, we also need knowledge about other related runic series - the Younger Futhark and the Northumbrian Futhark. Younger runes (Younger Futhark) Younger Futhark appears in Scandinavia somewhere in the 8th - 11th centuries. like a regular alphabet based on the Elder Futhark runes. It is also called “Viking runes”. New system became necessary for conducting correspondence, concluding trade and political transactions. Some letters of the Elder Futhark disappear, the spelling of others changes, some old signs, adapting directly to the language, acquire a new sound. This series was easily adapted to the local dialect or way of writing signs. Therefore, there are several varieties of this alphabet, which, however, have nothing to do with magic. Since the emergence and active use of “younger runes,” people have tried not to use the Elder Futhark runes unnecessarily, considering them the most suitable for magic. Therefore, there are mixed inscriptions from the Elder and Younger Futhark, where a meaningful phrase from runes - letters (Younger Futhark) ends with a rune - concept (Elder Futhark). Anglo-Saxon series and Northumbrian Futhorc These runic series arose as a result of the migration of the Germanic tribes of the Angles and Saxons to Britain in the 5th century AD. The magical systems and ideas of the Germans (runes) and Celts (the Druid magical alphabet "Ogham", the cult of trees, etc.) inexplicably converged in the creation of first the early Anglo-Saxon runic system of 28 runes, then the Northumbrian runic system of 33 signs. Runic Revival The magical use of runes with the advent of Christianity was condemned and forgotten. But in the 19th – 20th centuries, when the revival of German populism and “German spirituality” began, the ancient writing, reputed to be magical, came to mind - runes. This is how a new, “esoteric” runology arose. Nowadays, lovers of occult research and adherents of neo-paganism are already well acquainted with runes. Books about runes are written by popularizers - journalists and ideologists of the revival of the “northern Faith”. People tell fortunes using runes, wear runic amulets and talismans, and sometimes try to use runes to change reality and influence the existing course of things. It is quite obvious that in order to comprehend the logic and meaning of ancient inscriptions, it is necessary to understand, as far as possible, the worldview of those people and that time. But in order to use the same runes now, it is necessary to transform or find new shades of meaning of the signs themselves. This is how a new meaning of ancient runes arises, real for us and modern world. And the runes still express certain principles of the universe, and we can describe and explore in our own way many aspects and aspects of the reality around us.

reaches Greenland and the British Isles; in the east - the Russian North, Ukraine and Belarus; in the south - Crimea and Constantinople. And in this we again see confirmation of the enormous importance of runic art in European history - and, of course, in the European sacred Tradition.

The word "rune"

Several questions that we must consider here in the introductory part of the book include, among other things, the question of the meaning and origin of the word “rune” itself.

We find the oldest examples of its use in inscriptions on rune stones, where it denotes the signs of runic writing. As a rule, these are phrases containing a mention of the master’s name:

Inscription from Einang (Norway, mid-4th century)2:

...dagastiR runo faihido

“...Dagastiz drew the runes”

Inscription from Jarsberg (Sweden, mid-5th century):

...harabanaR hait ek erilaR runoR waritu

“I call myself Hrabnar, I, Eril, carve runes.”

The current traditional interpretation of the word runa was established at the end of the last century. The German word runa, rune, denoting a letter of runic writing, is associated with the Gothic rûna - “secret” (this word is found in the Gothic translation of the Bible of the 6th century) and with other German. the verb rûnen (modern German raunen) meaning “whisper”. Some variety in the interpretation of the word rune was introduced by Nigel Pennick, who pointed out its non-Northern European parallels: ancient Celtic. run, Middle-Welsh. rhin meaning “whisper”, “whisper”; modern irl. run "secret"; Scottish-Gaelic run "lot".

Presumably, there are Slavic parallels to the term “rune”, the existence of which was first noted at the beginning of the 20th century by D. Zhunkovich. These possible parallels are associated with the verb to wound/runit (i.e. to make an incision, cut out). It is curious that, looking at the question from a completely different angle, R. Morris and E. Antonsen came to a conclusion that indirectly confirms Zhunkovich’s hypothesis, who proposed a new etymology in 1989 and connected other-Islamic. rún with an Indo-European root meaning “to scratch”, “to make notches” (cf. German ritzen, “to scratch”).

Runic letter

Runic writing in Tradition is considered an art in itself, and a sacred art. This is, of course, connected with the sacredness of the runic signs themselves, but we must not forget that in ancient times any art of writing was considered magical.

Runic writing belongs to the group of alphabetic writings, i.e. such writing systems in which each sign conveys a certain sound. How

2 Here and further in the book, international Latin designations for runes are adopted. In particular, “R” (as opposed to “r”) is the Algiz rune and (in Futhark) a sound close to z; “th” or “ϸ” - the Thurisaz rune and an interdental consonant sound similar to the th sound in English. three.

alphabetic writing has a number of characteristic features that distinguish it from the familiar Cyrillic or Latin writing. We will now consider these features.

First of all, it should be said that runic writing allows signs to follow both from left to right (right-hand letter) and from right to left (left-hand letter). In this case, the runes always unfold in the direction of the signs; Thus, when writing right-handed, the runes will have the appearance we are accustomed to, but when writing left-handed, they will be mirrored (see figure).

Such “inverted” runes are sometimes called vand runes. This may seem unusual, but the tradition of unfolding runes in the direction of writing has great magical meaning - while the runes always look forward along the inscription. Another feature of runic writing is the widespread use of the so-called boustrophedon in long inscriptions, which also sharply distinguishes runic writing from modern one. When writing with boustrophedon, the entire inscription, no matter how long it is, turns out to be written in one line - and this also has a certain magical meaning. The continuity of the inscription is achieved in one of two ways.

letter, etc.

The first of them (boustrophedon in in its own sense words) consists in the fact that the inscription, having reached the edge of the space allocated for it, turns around and, without interruption, goes back “upside down”. Such a boustrophedon, like ordinary one-line inscriptions, can, of course, be either left- or right-handed. The second method is to alternate right and left writing in such a way that the inscription goes, for example, in right writing from the left edge to the right, and in the next line it turns around and goes back to the left

It should be noted that there are no spaces in the runic writing. In most cases, the entire inscription is done together, without breaking it into words. In some cases, individual sentences or semantic parts of the inscription are, if necessary, separated by special characters representing one or more dots.

In the process of development of runic art, many

special systems of runic writing, used as secret writing, for magical purposes, or simply to reduce the space occupied by the inscription. It is very difficult to decipher an inscription made by runes in one of these systems without having the key to it or, at least, without knowing approximately its contents.

One of the results of such experiments by magicians was the tradition of using knitted runes, i.e. writing two or more runes in such a way that certain of their elements (usually a vertical line) coincide. For example, in the original inscription on the Wodurid stone, combined runes carrying the sounds da and ha were used. The unpleasant side of this tradition is that even in the simplest versions, some signs can be read in two ways (for example, wR and rR are written with one sign), not to mention the fact that the order of sounds is almost always unknown (for example, aR=Ra, wR=Rw, ne=en, etc.).

Often, magicians working in the technique of knitted runes did not limit themselves to simple combinations of a pair of runes. In such cases, runic inscriptions arose, each sign of which is a ligature of several runes. Reading such runic texts is very difficult; often their authors did not strive to preserve the “readability” of the inscription - this is completely unimportant for the magical effect.

Another technique of runic secret writing is the use of mirror runes, that is, runes symmetrically doubled relative to the horizontal or vertical axis (rod). Mirror runes, it must be said, were used not only as a means of simple secret writing, but also as a way to enhance the magical effect of runes. It is believed, and probably not without reason, that a rune inscribed twice or thrice is more effective than a single one, and an inscription made with mirror runes turns out, as is easy to see, to be inscribed twice.

I note that both described techniques can be used simultaneously, and the signs of such inscriptions are completely unreadable for the uninitiated. At the same time, this approach allows you to create capacious active (in the magical sense) combinations of runes - for example, encrypting runic sacred words in one sign.

Finally, it should be mentioned that in many inscriptions, including those made by the Lesser runes, one encounters - among other things - the use of the Elder Futhark runes as ideographic symbols. So, for example, in the Stentoflen inscription there is a line translated as “Hatuvolafor gave...” and closed with the rune j, Yer.

Runic writing

K.A. Ivanova

Ishim, Russian Federation

"About the power of writing, not a single people

didn’t think any more and didn’t put her higher,

than the Germans"
K. Mullenhoff

The emergence, spread and development of runic writing was one of the most important cultural achievements of the Germanic tribes in early period their stories. Humanity knows several basic types of systems for transmitting information using graphic symbols. They arose, no doubt, in stages, at a certain point in time, when necessity dictated conditions requiring more advanced and sophisticated ways of transmitting and accumulating information as such and experience in particular.

The oldest type of writing among the Germans was runic writing. Tacitus in his “Germania” wrote that the Germans attached special importance to fortune-telling by drawing lots: having scattered sticks with signs carved on them on a piece of cloth and reading a prayer, the priest took three sticks at random and told fortunes by reading the signs on them. These considered magical signs were letters of runic writing, the alphabet of the first coherent letter among the ancient Germans.

The name of the letters - “runes” - is derived from the stem, which had the meaning “secret” (cf. Goth.runa "secret" and German verbraunen “mysteriously”, “whisper furtively”). The runic alphabet of the Germans, the so-called “senior runes,” consisted of 24 characters. Based on the first six letters, it received the name “futhark” (futhark ) . These marks are a combination of vertical and slanted lines. Runes were used primarily for magical and religious purposes. The knowledge of runes was a professional secret of the priests and was passed down from generation to generation. The purpose of runic inscriptions is to protect the owner of the item from evil forces and enemies, to protect the dead and keep them in the grave, etc. Runes were written (carved) on wood, bone, stone (tombstones), and later on metal, in particular on gold items. Since wooden objects, with rare exceptions, have not been preserved, very few runic inscriptions have reached us, especially few in Germany and England, and somewhat more in Scandinavia. In total, 150 objects with runic inscriptions dating back to the 3rd–8th centuries were discovered. These are items or parts of weapons (spear, sword hilt, shield attachment), jewelry and amulets (ring, bracelet, bracelet medal), tombstones, etc.

Most inscriptions are single words (often proper names). Each rune itself could also have a magical meaning, so the entire alphabet or part of it was often written out, which, according to the beliefs of the ancient Germans, was supposed to bring good luck in different types activities and protect from misfortunes.

Of the runic monuments in England, the most interesting are the inscription on a casket from Northumbria and a religious poem on a stone Ruthwell cross in Scotland. In accordance with the phonetic features of the Ingveonian dialects, the number of runes among the Anglo-Saxons was initially increased to 28. This number of runes is attested, in particular, in a 7th century manuscript, the so-called “Salzburg Codex” (“Salzburg Codex”).Codex Salisburgiensis "), No. 140).

Runes are the latest and, in fact, the only “pagan”, “pre-civilized” alphabet of Europe, which is in relatively stable and widespread use to this day. The three main alphabets inherited by European civilization and which were the cornerstones of its culture - Latin, Greek and Cyrillic - practically exhaust the entire diversity of the symbolic structure that allows the inhabitants of the continent to express their thoughts, accumulate information and exchange it.

The alphabet was divided into three genders ( Ættir - etir, Ætt - att), 8 runes in each. The first etir included runesf, u, þ, a, r, k, g, w . In the second - h, n, i, j, é (ih-wh), p, R (z), s . The third etir included runest, b, e, m, l, ŋ, d, o .

Each rune had its own name. The original names of the runes have not survived, but here are their tentative names, reconstructed from the names of the runes in later alphabets.

The writing direction is from left to right, but is found in early inscriptions ( a method of writing in which the direction of writing alternates depending on the parity of the line, that is, if the first line is written from right to left, then the second - from left to right, the third - again from right to left, etc..). So, on the spear from the inscription is read from right to left, and the runes themselves are also turned in the opposite direction. Words were separated by a period, colon or cross.

Each rune had a name, i.e. not only conveyed this or that sound, but was also a sign correlated with a certain content, in other words, it could be used both in phonetic and symbolic meaning.Each rune, like a Greek or Hebrew letter, is a symbolic repository of certain knowledge and concepts. The special connection of each rune with a specific object or property allows, by composing combinations of runic signs, to describe or explore each aspect of the universe. When composing such combinations, the rune acts as a tool of cognition, and if we consider it as a symbol, then it is an analogue of reality.

The names of the runes, known from later sources (mnemonic runic verses), allow us to get an idea of ​​​​the symbolic role, and hence the possible imputation of individual characters: f - * fehu (drun-isl.f é ) "wealth",j - * jara (drun-isl.ár) "harvest",n - nau ð "need", k - kaun "ulcer", m - ma ð r “husband”, etc. So, a combination of runes repeated three times g And A , painted on the shaft of a spear found in a swamp (Kragehul, Funen island, beg.VI c.), apparently meant that the spear thrown into the swamp was brought as a gift to the Germanic aesir gods: rune g was called "gift", rune A - "ace".

Few people had knowledge of runes, primarily, apparently, priests, who were also masters of runic writing. The use of runes, almost entirely limited to magic and ritual, was associated with the sacralization of writing.

The language of the most ancient runic inscriptions is an intermediate link between the Germanic base language, the forms of which can only be reconstructed, and the languages ​​of the most ancient written monuments of various Germanic nationalities. Runology as an independent scientific discipline originated in the 70s. 19th century Its founder was the Danish scientist Ludwig Wimmer. A very large contribution to the development of runology was made by Norwegian scientists Sufys Bugge and Magnus Olsen, Swedish scientists Otto von Friesen, Elias Wessen and a number of other researchers. And if, despite the efforts of runologists, a number of inscriptions have still not been deciphered, and the interpretation of many is controversial, this is explained by the complexity of the material and its fragmentation. To decipher the inscriptions it is necessary to involve data related sciences. As runologist Karl Marstrander put it, “runology is paleography, linguistics, archeology and mythology.” Indeed, often lexical meaning the words of any runic inscription are clear, but what function this text served remains a mystery.

The origin of the runic alphabet is also not entirely clear. Some runes show a clear resemblance to the letters of the Latin alphabet, others - to the Greek. Therefore, some scientists tried to derive the runic alphabet from Latin, others from Greek. In the middle of the 19th century. The idea of ​​the origin of runes from one of the Northern Italian alphabets was first expressed. According to this hypothesis, runes, having originated in northern Italy in the 2nd–3rd centuries, were then adopted by the southernmost of the West Germanic tribes and gradually spread northward, passing from one Germanic tribe to another. This hypothesis currently has the largest number of supporters. True, some runes do not have prototypes in any of the Northern Italian alphabets; The alphabetical order of the runes also remains a mystery.

Runic writing was one of the most important cultural conquests of the Germanic tribes at the dawn of the Great Migration era. However, due to its predominantly religious purpose, it could not and did not receive significant distribution.

"...with a certain basis we can say that up to now it has not been possible to interpret a single runic inscription. In a number of cases we are able to determine the text of the inscription, but at the same time we must... admit that this text is only a shell, beyond which hides a core unknown to us"

Karl Marstrander

Literature:

Ancient Germans and their languages ​​// Introduction to Germanic philology/Solovyova L.N.- M.: Higher School, 1980. - cc. 7-27 ;

Enoksen, Lars Magnar. Runor. Historie, Tydning, Talking. - Lund: Historiske Media, 1999;

Harbingers of the Vikings. Northern Europe in the I-VIII centuries / Khlevov A. A. - St. Petersburg: "Eurasia", 2002;

Alphabet/Dieringer David - M.: Foreign Literature Publishing House, 1963. - pp. 579-599.;

Letters dead and alive/Kondratov Alexey- St. Petersburg: Azbuka-Classics/Avalon, 2007. - P. 186-187. - 256 s.

No one knows exactly when, where or by whom runes were invented. The only thing archaeologists can confirm is that the oldest runic inscriptions known to us are about 1700 years old, they are found in Denmark and Norway.

What does the word RUNE mean?

All Indo-European languages, including Russian, come from a single proto-language Vedic Sanskrit , on which the oldest part of the Vedas is written - Rig-Veda. It is in Vedic Sanskrit that one should look for the root of the word RUNA. In Vedic Sanskrit the word “rAsnA” - “secret, secret, any secret teaching” (dictionary: http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/tamil/recherche), on In Gothic language the word "runa" means "mystery" , in English: “Secret” - “hidden”.
Old Germanic languages ​​define the word rune - "runen" as in "mystery" or "secret" connecting the mysterious signs of the runic writing of the Scandinavian runes with magic and sacred rituals.
On In Old Norse the word “runar” means “secret”.
On In the Old Norse language, the word rune means “letter”, “inscription” or “letter”.

Vikings in the Bayeux Tapestry. The tapestry depicts the Norman Vikings crossing the English Channel in their drake ships with horses and equipment on board at the end September 1066 AD .

Viking DNA .

Genetic scientists are interested in the exploration of Normandy, because it's the only one sustainable colony created by the Vikings in continental Europe outside Scandinavia.

The study focused on the population of the Cotentin Peninsula because there is a particularly strong density of places and people whose names refer to Scandinavian origins.

« We were interested in men with Scandinavian surnames, which could reflect this Viking heritage: names such as Ankeil, Duto, Equilbec, Gonfray, Inguf, Lanfrey, Osuf, Osmont, Kettel, Tugis, Tostain, Raoul - and their many variations,” explained Richard Jones at the University of Leicester.

Viking Rollo (c. 846 - 930 AD) , the first Duke of Normandy, was, according to the sagas, so large that no horse could carry him, and he often had to walk, hence nickname "Gang Rolv" which means "Messenger Rolv/Rollo".

Among eighty-nine (89) men of those who participated in the genetic study, the majority (52 people) represented haplogroup R1b, type of Y chromosome variation most common in Northern and Western Europe.

26 people with Scandinavian surnames were carriers of the haplogroup, which often considered in Scandinavia as a typical Scandinavian haplogroup R1a.

Haplogroup I1 discovered 11 people indeed, more than 45% modern population in some areas of Scandinavia belongs to genetic group I1 , Maybe, Germanic origin . It's very tempting to consider haplogroup I1, like a marker left by the Vikings in Normandy.

132 runic signs related to Proto-Slavic and Proto-Bulgarian tongue

The runic alphabet was first used in Proto-Slavic languages, in ancient Germanic languages (Old Germanic), then in Old Norse (Old Norse) in Scandinavian countries. Runic letter is a writing system in which each character had a specific sound.

Runes can be written in both directions from right to left or left to right. Runes can also be flipped or rotated.

The runic alphabet is called -Futhark - by the name of the first six runes.

At the beginning of 700 AD, the shorter runic alphabet, consisting of 16 characters, dominated . These changes were associated with the so-called syncopation years - around 500-700 AD, when the northern languages ​​underwent major changes, words in speech decreased.

Words in Old Norse have been shortened (that is, syncopated, trimmed). For example, the word was shortened to "ár". Letter "á" eventually turned to the letter "å" in the modern Scandinavian alphabet.

In 500-700 AD in the Old Norse language some runes received new sounds . Scientists have found examples of various changes in the 7th century Futhark in Norway. The Elder Futhark was used in 600 AD and consisted of 24 characters.

Secret writing. Tent runes

Examples of various runic writing have been found on wooden objects, on stone, on swords and pendants worn as amulets by inhabitants of medieval Europe from the Balkans to Germany, Scandinavia and the British Isles.

The oldest runic inscription dates back to the 1st century AD, and may contain the secret of an ancient conspiracy, a secret ritual, or carry the sign of a hidden magical amulet.

Codex runicus , a vellum manuscript from 1300 AD containing one of the oldest and best preserved texts of Skånske lov , written entirely in runes.

There are different variants of runic writing . Several different runic alphabet codes have been created, in various forms and contexts.

Jötunvillur is a little-known runic alphabet from the 11th or 12th century. Only nine examples have been found in Northern Europe Jotunvillur inscriptions on wooden tablets, cracked over time, making them difficult to read.

Over the years, many discoveries have been made around the study of runes, but there is still a sense of 900-year-old mystery , and many questions remain to be answered. For example, were the encrypted messages intended to store classified information? Why did the Vikings even use codes when writing runes?

Runologist Jonas Nordby from the University of Oslo hopes to decipher Jotunvillur's code to find answers to these questions. Jonas Nordby believes that the secret of the Jotunvillur code lies in the fact that the written rune signs correspond to the last sound of the rune name. All runes have a name, and Jötunvillur code - replaces the runic symbol the last sound runic name. For example, if you need to write a rune of the letter U - the sound “urr”, in the letter it is encoded with the rune R.

The problem is that several runic symbols have names that end with the same sound. This makes it difficult to determine which character the code refers to.

« It's like solving a riddle. After a while, I began to see meaning in a seemingly meaningless combination of runes."- says Jonas Nordby.

Many runes end with the same sound, meaning researchers have yet to decide what runic letter was used as a code in this or that case.

Jonas Nordby notes: “We have little reason to believe that rune codes must hide secret messages; people often wrote short daily notes. I think that secret codes were used as a game in the study of runes, and not for communication."

On a wooden plank 1200, found in Bergen , two men named Sigurd and Lavran wrote their names both in code and in ordinary runes. This helped runologist Jonas Nordby solve the Jotunvillur code. For the first time, the Jötunvillur runic code was cracked. This will help solve the mystery of the Viking secret codes and understand the purpose of the codes.

The use of runic codes was very common in Scandinavia, and a large part of the population knew well how to use them. Jonas Nordby believes that after studying the runes, Having learned to read and write runes, a person also learned codes.

Runologist Jonas Nordby during his travels through the countries of Northern Europe he explored and studied about 80 runic inscriptions related to 800 AD and later.

The runic message reads “kiss me” in the Jötunvillur code.

« Many people believe that the Vikings used cryptography to hide secret messages, but I think the codes were used for play and learning, not for communication."says Jonas Nordby.

One of the reasons he can make this statement is that Jötunvillur code written in a way that can be interpreted in different ways.

That's why Jonas Nordby is trying to unravel other ways he uses the code. Jonas Nordby believes that The Vikings remembered the names of runic characters using the code Jötunvillur.

The runic inscription within the Stone Age burial chamber on Orkney. (Bengt A. Lundberg)

Found runic inscription in a Stone Age burial in Orkney, which was made around 1100. It says: "These runes were carved by the most rune-literate man west of the sea." Those who could write and decipher runic codes boasted of their abilities.

Secret writing. Branched runes

— 11,000 years ago

Henrik Williams, Swedish rune expert and professor at the Department of Scandinavian Languages ​​at Uppsala University, explains why Nordby's discovery is so important.
First of all, it helps us understand that there were more secret codes than we knew until now. Each runic inscription is waiting to be deciphered and read. This is pure detective work, and everyone new method improves our chances. We get closer to the thoughts of people living at that time, understanding their secret codes.

Professor Terje Spurkland from the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oslo, believes that Jonas Nordby is the only one who confirmed that rune codes were used as a kind of game during study.

In the 11th century, Christianity and the Latin alphabet arrived in Norway, but it would take several hundred years before people began to use the new Latin alphabet. The main reason was the writing tools. If you had a knife and a piece of wood or bone, you could start writing; it was the advantage of the runic alphabet that it was cheap, easy and accessible. The letters of the Latin alphabet had a shape that was difficult to cut with a knife on hard material. The letters of the Latin alphabet are easy to write on parchment, but this is expensive and impractical for poor Norwegian farmers.

In the later years of the Middle Ages, runes slowly fell out of use, and the Latin alphabet became dominant in many countries in Western Europe.