Talk:Younger Futhark

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of the following WikiProjects:

WikiProject Ancient Germanic studies      (Rated Start-Class) This article is within the scope of the Ancient Germanic studies WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. Start This article has been rated as start-Class on the quality scale. WikiProject Norway Norway Portal This article is part of WikiProject Norway, an attempt to better organize information in articles related to Norway. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale. WikiProject Middle Ages Middle Ages Portal Younger Futhark is part of WikiProject Middle Ages, a project for the community of Wikipedians who are interested in the Middle Ages. For more information, see the project page and the newest articles. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale. ??? This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale. Article Grading: The article has not been rated for quality and/or importance yet. Please rate the article and then leave comments here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article. WikiProject Middle Ages To do:

[edit] Minimal pairs

Could someone come up with an example of a good minimal pair to exemplify the point? 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 11:50, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Application

How does one use these to write Icelandic (or Old Norse)? An explanation of this would be useful, since it isn't obvious—Younger Futhark lacks distinct letters for many of the sounds in ON. --Śiva (talk) 21:09, 22 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, many of the runes are used for several sounds. Also, there wasn't a standardized spelling, so rune carvers often used ad hoc approximations. As a footnote, I took a summer class in Norse myhology once here in Stockholm, and the teacher told me, basically "You could just imagine how the carvers have simulated sounds with their lips while carving. There are even stones when the same word is spelled differently each time it occurs. Basically, they spelled like hacks." 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * (talk) 13:29, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

I read a newspaper article the other day where the name of Vladimir Zhirinovsky was spelled three different ways at different places in the text :-) But you are right, an explanation in the article would be useful, and I'll see if I can write something. The example I remember from school is the name Gunvor, which appears on a runestone in Norway, it is written kunuur - the u-rune served for our u, v, and o, and the k-rune served as a g. Makes it a bit more puzzling to read, obviously.--Barend (talk) 14:05, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

As a footnote, an example like this, where the same rune represents different sounds, would be the only main excuse for using the same rune consecutively, apparently. 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * (talk) 14:13, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Also, it seems the writing system generally wasn't used for longer narratives and poetry. Most of the preserved runestones contains mostly formulaized epithets about the person the stone was carved for. They were also painted, and probably produced more to look pretty, than to be great literature. 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * (talk) 14:10, 5 March 2008 (UTC)