ANCR-301 Lessons

Introduction
Welcome back to the Room of Runes. It appears you have recovered from sitting your midterms. I was impressed by your essays; your translations of both runic alphabets have greatly improved. However, I have noticed that many of you are still a bit confused as to what the futharks actually are, so let me reiterate once again: a futhark (or futhork) is a writing system or script, a means or a code that records the sounds of a language in a fixed form. It is not a language itself, though it is a component of one.

Depending on which form of runes we are looking at, the language may be West Germanic or North Germanic (Elder Futhark), Old Norse or Old Icelandic (Younger Futhark), or Old English, also called Anglo-Saxon (Anglo-Saxon Futhork). Therefore, I will stress once more, that the terms “language” and “script” are not the same thing and cannot be used interchangeably in this course.

Now that this has been cleared up, on with the lesson. Today, we will look at some of the ways that runes of the futharks have been used in medieval texts, and also look in more detail at the three rune poems and their differences. While this lesson will focus mainly on the more mundane texts that have used runes, next week’s lesson will focus on the use of ancient runes in magical writings, with a guest lecture by magical literature specialist Emma Hart.

A Brief Comparison of the Rune Poems
As I have mentioned before, we have three medieval poems that outline the runes and their meanings to thank for our current insight into the way these symbols were interpreted and understood, particularly by Muggles. We will look at how these differ from the magical community’s sources next week.

Below, you will find the verses for the second rune Ur from all three poems. I have chosen this rune for two reasons: firstly, this rune bears the same name in all three scripts, the Elder Futhark (which, while it doesn’t have its own rune poem, serves as the foundation of your runic knowledge), the Younger Futhark, and the Anglo-Saxon Futhork. Secondly, although the name of the rune has the same sound, its meaning is different in all three languages. This gives us an excellent method by which to compare the three poems to each other.

You can see how very different the three poems are, not just in their meanings, but also in the way they structure the explanation. While the Old English poem uses its verse to give a detailed description of the meaning by elaborating on one single theme (in this case the aurochs as a beast of great strength and fierceness), the Old Norse version only gives a terse explanation of where the word Ur comes from. The Old Icelandic poem on the other hand, while similarly brief like the Old Norse version, is more elaborate in its content and gives three different kenningar that circumlocute the meaning of the word. These kenningar all seem unrelated, apart from the fact that they describe the same thing. Through this, you can see the nature of kenningar very well. A poet who wanted to describe a shower or drizzle could pick any of these three descriptions from the Old Icelandic Rune Poem, depending on which alliteration he needed in his poem.

Language, especially poetry, is as versatile as magic in creating a desired effect. It all depends on the circumstances and finding the means most suited to your situation and the means available to you.

The Anglo-Saxon Runic Riddles
Among the manuscripts from the Anglo-Saxon period that have survived is one collection of poems in the Anglo-Saxon language that also includes the use of runes in several forms. Scholars are still debating the exact purpose of this collection of texts. What they show, nonetheless, is a kind of playful spirit and a delight in playing with not just language and its meanings, but also with the interplay of different scripts and their meanings and letter names.

Take a look at the text of riddle 69:

I saw there two beautiful creatures
openly playing the game of love.
If the affair prospered, the fair-haired one
proudly arrayed, received her due fullness.
There shall be NEED, two of these,
Now I can tell the assembled bookmen
the names of both in runic letters.
and the bright ASH tree, one on the line,
and then two OAKS and two HAILS likewise.
Whoever has unlocked with the power of the key
the clasps of the chest which held the riddle
cunningly hidden from the learned in runes—
now is revealed to them here as they drink
how those two of low minds are called by name.

The words here written in capital letters are the meanings of the runes that spell out the names of the two creatures and it is these we must examine to solve the riddle. First, we have the rune for “need”, and not just once, but twice. This is the rune Nied in the Anglo-Saxon Futhork, and it also represents the sound value “N.” Next, we have the names of two trees: first is the ash tree, Æsc in Old English, and standing for the sound value “Æ.” It is followed by not one, but two oak trees, called Ac in Old English and standing for the sound value “A.” Finally, the riddles tell us that we need twice the rune for “hail,” which is of course Hægl, standing for the sound value “H.” Taken together, this gives us the following collection of letters: NN Æ AA HH

These, we need to rearrange to solve the riddle of the creatures so boldly having an affair. For this, we need some knowledge of Old English, so I have taken the liberty of doing the rearranging for you. The resulting two words are “HANA” and “HÆN”. Perhaps you can guess what at least one of them means?

If you said that the second word means “hen,” then you are completely right. Perhaps, if you know some German animal names, you might also have guessed that the first word, HANA,  means “rooster,” which in German is “Hahn.” I’m sure you can see the similarities.

This is just one example that shows the writers of medieval poetry knew not just the Latin alphabet and language, but were also clearly familiar with the symbols and meanings of the runic alphabet. Other riddles use the runic symbols as part of their text, either spelling out words or parts of words in runes as clues for the reader of the riddle to solve. This shows us, more than anything, that these riddles were part of a written culture, as a riddle told to another person could not make use of visual clues like capitalization or emphasis were the riddle conveyed orally.

Conclusion
Next week, we will take a closer look at what it meant to have two different alphabets in circulation at the same time, and how wizardkind made use of the slow decline of the runic alphabet among Muggles to guard its secrets. For today’s homework, you will have a quiz covering the material from today’s lesson. In addition, there is an extra credit assignment, where you can get creative or practice your own runic writing skills.

Until next week.

Vocabulary
Icelandic Rune Poem: a text written in Old Icelandic that details the meanings of the 16 runes of the Younger Futhark. It was likely written in the 15th century.
Kenning (plural “Kenningar”): a literary device that uses multiple pre-existing words to make a new word which is usually metaphorical. Often used in Old English and Old Norse poetry.
Norwegian (Norse) Rune Poem: a text written in Old Norse that details the meanings of the 16 runes of the Younger Futhark.  It was likely written in the 13th century.
Old English Rune Poem: a text written in Old English that details the meanings of the 33 runes of the Anglo-Saxon Futhork.  It was likely written in the 8th or 9th century.

Original lesson written by Professor Mathilda Stevens
Translation credits here
Image credits here