RuneAxe

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History

The broad umbrella for this writing system is called the runic script.

This particular runic "alphabet" is called:

Elder Futhark

~150–800 AD. It consists of 24 runes. Used across early Germanic tribes: Goths, Anglo-Saxons, Norse.

Originally, it was just futhark — named after the first six letters (ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ).

But when the Viking-era Norse simplified their script to only 16 runes (and others made variants too), scholars went:

Ah, we must be clever lads. Let's call this older set "Elder Futhark", and that one, "Younger".

It is a family within the alphabetic type — where each symbol (rune) broadly represents a phoneme (sound) of the language.

Younger Futhark

~800–1100 AD. 16 runes (indeed, fewer). Used in the Viking Age.

Futhorc (Anglo-Saxon)

~400–1100 AD. An expansion of the "Elder Futhark" to around 28–33 runes, to cover all the oddball sounds in Old English.

So, the wandering Norse went lite — and the ones toddled off to the misty isle, saw the fog, heard the odd vowels, went deluxe.

Deluxe — as in they had time to over-articulate everything.

Say, friend, is that æ as in ash or æ as in that odd sheep bleat we heard last Thursday?

Blimey, "wandering Norse", as if they were lost looking for IKEA instructions:

Where's the fjord, lads? I thought we passed it an hour ago... Never mind, let's just simplify the bloody runes then! Commence. Oh wait, komens! ᚲᛟᛗᛖᚾᛊ

Elder futhark is split into 3 ættir (Old Norse). Ættir (plural — singular: ætt) means clans, families, or lineages.

Well, the Norse didn't inscribe ᛅᛏᛏᛁᚱ (ættir or attir) anywhere. No finding of, ᚨᛏᛏᛁᚱ = ættir, family of runes, cheers. It's the modern scholarly reconstruction. They came up with it centuries later by observing the order and grouping of runes in a few surviving rune rows, then drew parallels.

Interested or not, here goes:

Freyr's Ætt
Named after the god Freyr, associated with fertility, wealth, and kingship.
No. Rune Name Sound
1 ᚠ Fehu /f/
2 ᚢ Uruz /u/
3 ᚦ Thurisaz /θ/ (th)
4 ᚨ Ansuz /a/
5 ᚱ Raidō /r/
6 ᚲ Kaunan /k/
7 ᚷ Gebu /g/
8 ᚹ Wunjō /w/
Heimdall's Ætt
Heimdall is the watchman of the gods, linked to vigilance and boundaries.
No. Rune Name Sound
9 ᚺ Hagalaz /h/
10 ᚾ Naudiz /n/
11 ᛁ Isa /i/
12 ᛃ Jera /j/ (y)
13 ᛇ Eihwaz /ei/ or /ī/
14 ᛈ Pertho /p/
15 ᛉ Algiz /z/ or /ʀ/
16 ᛊ Sowilo /s/
Tyr's Ætt
Tyr is the god of law, justice, and heroic glory.
No. Rune Name Sound
17 ᛏ Tiwaz /t/
18 ᛒ Berkanan /b/
19 ᛖ Ehwaz /e/
20 ᛗ Mannaz /m/
21 ᛚ Laguz /l/
22 ᛜ Ingwaz /ŋ/ (ng)
23 ᛞ Dagaz /d/
24 ᛟ Othala /oː/

Much like the Hebrew Alef-Bet or the Greek Alphabētos songs, these three ættir may have been memorised in sets, recited for learning, magical incantations, or poetic rhythm. Indeed, "may have been", because it would be easier to memorise that way. Again, it's a reconstruction by modern scholars.

Oh, let's sing the Alef-Bet song! We can try with the same melody as "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Yay. 🥳

Alef, Bet, Vet, and Gimel
(Twinkle, twinkle, little star) 🎵

Dalet, He, Vav, then Zayin
(How I wonder what you are) 🎵

Yod, Kaf, Khaf-sofit, Lamed
(Up above the world so high) 🎵

Mem, Mem-sofit, and then Nun
(Like a diamond in the sky) 🎵

—

Nun-sofit, Ayin, and Pe
(Twinkle, twinkle, little star) 🎵

Fei, Fei-sofit, and Tsadi
(How I wonder what you are) 🎵

Qof, Resh, Shin, Tav, all complete
(Up above the world so high) 🎵

Now you've sung the Alef-Bet
(Like a diamond in the sky) 🎵

[
  Interpretative dance here:
    7 steps to the right:
      (nod, nod, nod, shake, shake, nod, swivel)
      (Twinkle, twinkle, little star) 🎵
    7 steps to the left:
      (nod, nod, nod, shake, shake, nod, bow)
      (How I wonder what you are) 🎵
]

As you can see from the lyrics, it didn't go:

Oy vey, oy vey, I give up. I just need to shout bli-mey. 🎵

Now, the Greek Alphabētos! Similar, using "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" melody.

Yay. 🥳

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta
(Twinkle, twinkle, little star) 🎵
Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta
(How I wonder what you are) 🎵

Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu
(Up above the world so high)
Nu and Xi and Omicron too
(Like a diamond in the sky) 🎵

—

Pi and Rho, then Sigma's there
(Twinkle, twinkle, little star) 🎵
Tau and Upsilon everywhere
(How I wonder what you are) 🎵

Phi and Chi, then Psi and Omega
(Up above the world so high)
Now we've sung the Greek Alphabētos (🤷‍♂️)
(Like a diamond in the sky) 🎵

Hm hm, hm hm, hm hm, hmmmm
(Twinkle, twinkle little star) 🎵
La la, la la, la la laaaa
(How I wonder what you are) 🎵

(Applause. 👏👏👏🥳🍾)

Ingwaz, Thorn, Sowilo, and Eihwaz Runes (sidenote)

ᛜ (Ingwaz) – "NG"

Used to represent the "ng" sound at the end of a word.

Example:

  • sing = ᛊᛁᛜ or ᛋᛁᛜ
  • strong = ᛊᛏᚱᛟᚾᛜ or ᛋᛏᚱᛟᚾᛜ
  • Mid-word "ng" (e.g. singing, bongo) remains unchanged to avoid misrepresentation.

ᚦ (Thorn) – "TH"

Replaces the "th" digraph in all positions, whether at the start, middle, or end.

Covers both soft (as in this) and hard (as in thing) pronunciations.

Example:

  • thorn = ᚦᛟᚱᚾ
  • hath = ᚺᚨᚦ
  • father = ᚠᚨᚦᛖᚱ

Sowilo Rune – ᛋ / ᛊ (S)

Represents the "S" sound, like in sun or sing.

Unicode defines two codepoints:

  • ᛋ (U+16CB) – Standard form
  • ᛊ (U+16CA) – Stylistic variant

Same sound, same function — only the appearance may differ depending on font.

If you see a strange hook, lightning bolt, or typographic prank, it's just Sowilo in disguise.

⚠️ Some fonts render ᛋ and ᛊ differently — but they're the same rune. Use either based on visual preference.

RuneAxe uses the ᛊ for Sowilo. Because it can.

Eihwaz Rune – ᛇ (EI)

Historically linked to the "yew tree", sometimes pronounced like ei, eo, or īə.

Phonetic value is unclear — scholars still argue whether it's a vowel, a tree, or a riddle. Or a shovel.

Not used in this app to represent "ei" or similar sounds due to its uncertain pronunciation and inconsistent usage across rune systems.

⚠️ RuneAxe skips ᛇ on purpose — because it's a phonetic wild card.

Use RuneAxe as Your Reference

RuneAxe can directly convert the text using URL parameter. ?text=YOUR_TEXT&conversion=(rta|atr)

You may put whitespace for the text value. Browser will automatically encode it. RuneAxe will automatically decode it.

The conversion value can either be atr or rta.

  • atr = alphabet to runes.
  • rta = runes to alphabet.

As such, converting the text ᚾᚨᛏᚱᛁᚢᛗ to alphabet using rta (runes to alphabet):

https://portraptor.johanpaul.net/2025/11/runeaxe.html?text=ᚾᚨᛏᚱᛁᚢᛗ&conversion=rta

Example, in anchor tag:

<a 
    href="https://portraptor.johanpaul.net/2025/11/runeaxe.html?text=ᚾᚨᛏᚱᛁᚢᛗ&conversion=rta"
    target="_blank"
    rel="noopener"
    title="Open new tab">
    ᚾᚨᛏᚱᛁᚢᛗ to alphabet
</a>

The URL template is like so:

https://portraptor.johanpaul.net/2025/11/runeaxe.html?text=YOUR_TEXT&conversion=rta|atr

Template in anchor tag:

<a 
    href="https://portraptor.johanpaul.net/2025/11/runeaxe.html?text=YOUR_TEXT&conversion=rta|atr"
    target="_blank"
    rel="noopener"
    title="Open new tab">
    YOUR LINK TEXT
</a>

Or you can simply copy from the URL bar.

Side-Eye

By the cravat power, every old European culture suddenly gained: prophetic elders, wandering tribes, sacred hills, chosen‑people motifs, tragic moral arcs, and that perpetual "fallen kingdom" vibe.

All reverse‑engineered because the scholars' primary interpretative tool was Scripture, so everything they touched turned biblical by osmosis. Blimey.

Then modern entertainment picked it up and turned the dial to eleven. Vikings? They must speak like King James extras. Celts? They must behave like a rejected Old Testament tribe with better hair. Romans? Oh they must have dramatic monologues like wandering prophets, except with sandals. Greeks? Oh, that guy over there with the camera. His name is Bob Greeks.

And then we — the innocent bystanders — connecting the dots, then realise:

Oh my, how fascinating! The Greeks, the Egyptians, the Babylonians... they all have similar motifs! That must mean divine truth permeates all civilisations!

Yes. 👀

Meanwhile,

a sweaty 18th‑century antiquarian with a Bible in his waistcoat, "reconstructing" mythologies like a dodgy LEGO set.

But hey, archaeology.

Let's sing the Greek Alphabētos with Nordic groove. 🪓

(How how huh! How how ugh!) 😤
(How how huh! How how awh!) 😤
(Oh oh!) 💡

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta,
Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta,

🪓

Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu,
Nu and Xi and Omicron too.

🪓

Pi and Rho, then Sigma's there, 💪

Tau and Upsilon everywhere. ⚔️

Phi and Chi, then Psi and Omega,
Now we've sung the Greek Alphabētooooo-oooOOOOOOOOS! 📣 
(Shouted from a fjord cliff.)

ᚠᚢᚱ-ᛊᚨ BĒT-OS!
🪓🪓🪓
(Flinging-axe ritual rhythm.)

(Bob Greeks weeps. 🥲) YES, LADS!

Axe

"Axe" is the British spelling of 🪓. The American version is "ax".

But funnily, the word "ax" historically is older than "axe". In Middle and Old English, it showed up as "ax(e)", "aks", and even "æx." But over time, the "e" became standardised in Britain.

So Noah Webster in 1800s resurrected "ax".

Ax!

👀 Yes, sir.