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Abstract
The Germanic concept of a sacred Book may have been integrated in (1) the runes and (2) the
keywords of the Futhark alphabet.
A number of relevant runes related to divine names (such as A=Odin, þ=Thor and F=Frey)
concentrates in and near the keywords “Futh” ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ, “Futha” ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ and “Futhark” ( ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ ),
which also contain a number of relevant divine names (such as Wit, Tiw, Thor and Rod).
Most of the philosophical symbolism may be concentrated in singular characters such as æ (the ego-
pronoun ”I”), the vowel Α ”ans” ("god", ”Odin”) and Ask (the ”first male man” & the ash tree).
Introduction
Inspection of the individual Futhark-runes reveals two encoding mechanisms in the runic alphabets:
1. the symbolism of individual Futhark-runes, in which a name or a concept may be hidden.
2. the symbolism in keywords at the beginning of the Futhark-alphabet.
A special category of runes is concentrated at the beginning of the Futhark alphabet. The runes with
a planetary link to the gods “Venus”, “Mercury” and “Jupiter” may be identified in the first four
characters ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ.
Further planetary links to the “planets” “Mars”, "Sun", “Man” and “Saturn” are found in other runes
ᛏ, ᛜ ᛝ , ᛊ ᛋ, respectively ᛗ.
The initial 4-letter keyword ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ of the Futharc alphabet is interpreted as “fuþa”. Runes were
called vitha by the West Slavs, which is a genitive of *vid or *vit meaning "image" or "side".
The first rune ᚠ (*fehu, “F”) is dedicated to the god Frey”, representing the planet Venus and the
day Friday.
The third rune ᚦ (?*þurisaz, “Th”) represents "Thor, giant", representing the planet Jupiter and the
day Thursday.
The fourth rune ᚨ (*ansuz, “A”), represents "the god Odin", representing the planet Mercury and the
day Wednesday.
The fourth and fifth gods are represented by *tīwaz/*teiwaz ᛏ (“Tyr”, “T”, Mars), respectively
*ingwaz ᛜ ᛝ ( Yngvi , “ŋ”).
Other suitable planetary symbols may be *sōwilō ᛊ ᛋ ( "Sun" , “S”) respectively Moon in *mannaz
ᛗ ( Man, “M” ) and Saturn in *raidō ᚱ (Rod, “R”).
Apart from the dedicated runes another set of four names Wut (ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ), Tiw (ᚦ ᚢ ᚠ), Thor (ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ) and
Rod ( ᚱ ᚨ ᚦ ) or Crodo ( ᚲ ᚱ ᚨ ᚦ ) already had been identified as words in “Futhark” ( ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ ).
In total the runes ᛊ ᛋ, ᛗ, ᛏ, ᚨ, ᚦ, ᚠ, ᚱ (or ᛜ ᛝ) may represent the “planets” Sun, Man, Tyr, Odin, Thor,
Frey, Rod (or Yngvi), respectively the days of the week Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
Runes
Overview of the divine names in the Elder Futhark runes
Day of the Rune Trans- Proto-Germanic
# IPA Meaning
week UCS literation name
Friday 1ᚠ f /f/ *fehu "wealth, cattle, the god Frey”
"aurochs" (or *ûram
2ᚢ u /u(ː)/ ?*ūruz
"water/slag"?)
Thursday 3ᚦ þ /θ/, /ð/ ?*þurisaz "the god Thor, giant"
Wednesday 4ᚨ a /a(ː)/ *ansuz "the god Odin"
1 Mars (Ares in Greek) is a legal son, Venus and Mercury are the illegal children of Jupiter, Jupiter (Zeus in Greek) the
son of Saturn, and Saturn (Cronus in Greek) the son of Uranus. What is anomalous is that, while the others take Roman
names, Uranus is a name derived from Greek in contrast to the Roman Caelus.
2 The Role of the Slavic gods Rod and Vid in the Futhorc-alphabet
Deities in the alphabetical section
Other deities may be found is the rest of the alphabetical “A-I-Ω”- section:
• The fourth divine name is *tīwaz/*teiwaz ᛏ (“Tyr”, “T”),
• The fifth divine name is *ingwaz ᛜ ᛝ ( Yngvi , “ŋ”), equivalent to Frey.
• A planetary symbol is *sōwilō ᛊ ᛋ ( "Sun" , “S”)
• A planetary symbol may be identified as the Moon in *mannaz ᛗ ( Man, “M” )
• A planetary symbol may be identified Saturn in *raidō ᚱ (Rod, “R”).
A structured runic alphabet for the Elder Futhark runes
The symbolic "yew-tree" ᛇ at position 10 in the alphabetic body is marking the supporting pillar for
the alphabetic universe. This (ᛇ)-vowel ï (æ) (*ī(h)waz/*ei(h)waz) [I] is located in the center
between the vowel ᚨ (*ansuz) [A] and ᛟ (*ōþila-/*ōþala-) [Ω].
Therefore the alphabet may have been designed as an A-I-Ω-structure.
Rune Trans- Proto-Germanic
## IPA Meaning
UCS literation name
Header 1 ᚠ f /f/ *fehu "wealth, cattle, the god Frey”
Header 2 ᚢ u /u(ː)/ ?*ūruz "aurochs" (or *ûram "water/slag"?)
Header 3 ᚦ þ /θ/, /ð/ ?*þurisaz "the god Thor, giant"
3 The first St. Vitus church is erected 926 AD at the Hradčany hill as a predecessor of St. Vitus Cathedral.
4 Traces of Vit, Rod and Chrodo
The alphabetical body of the Futhark
In the remaining parts of the runic alphabet we may find ᛊ ᛋ (the “Sun”, letter “S”), ᛏ (“Tyr”, “T”), ᛗ
(“Man”, “M”) and ᛜ ᛝ (“Yngvi”, letter “ŋ”).
A for Ansuz
The rune *ansuz ᚨ may represent "gods”, which may be a common title (freyr means 'lord'). Since
the name of a (“a”) is attested in the Gothic alphabet as ahsa or aza, the common Germanic name
of the rune may thus either have been *ansuz "god", or *ahsam "ear (of wheat)".
F for Frey
The rune *fehu ᚠ (“F”) represents Frey, which may be a common title (freyr means 'lord').
M for Moon
Monday may be categorized as “Man's day” according to Plato's legend in Symposium, which
defines "male" couples as the Children of the Sun; the “female” couples the Children of the Earth
and the androgynous couples the Children of the Moon.
U for Uranus
The second rune belongs to the header word and should be categorized as one of the oldest
elementary deities (maybe: Uranus, representing "sky" or "heaven" and “Saturday” ?). The form of
the letter represents the curvature of the sky: ᚢ (“U”) .
The Fuᚦ-concentration in the Fuᚦarc alphabet
The initial 4-letter keyword ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ of the Futharc alphabet is interpreted as “fuþa”. Runes were
called vitha by the West Slavs, which is a genetive of *vid or *vit meaning "image" or "side",
"facet" (referring to the multifaceted essence of the supreme God)5.
Fig. 1: Runes were called vitha by the West Slavs - quoted in Deities of Slavic religion (Woda)
In addition, ancient sources, including the Eddas, write about a vetgrønster vida, which
means "evergreen tree"6. Vida is the “tree”, cognate to “vitha” (the “runes”).
The concentration of the characters ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ in the Futharc alphabet had been chosen to encode a
dedicated set of words which include Wut (ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ), Tiw (ᚦ ᚢ ᚠ), Thor (ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ) and Rod ( ᚱ ᚨ ᚦ ) or Crodo
( ᚲ ᚱ ᚨ ᚦ ). In the Gothic alphabet this set of words has been dissolved and vanished.
5 Hanuš 1842, p. 381 - Die Wissenschaft des Slawischen Mythus im weitesten, den altpreussisch-lithauischen Mythus
mitumfassenden Sinne. Nach Quellen bearbeitet, sammt der Literatur der slawisch-preussisch-lithauischen
Archäologie und Mythologie (in German). J. Millikowski. - quoted in Deities of Slavic religion (Woda)
6 Mythology and folklore Ash tree
The Gothic alphabet compared to the runic and Latin alphabets
Comp
Letter Gothic name PGmc IPA ##
.
Ch
Rune Gth Rom. Comp. rune name
il
ᚨ a a Α aza < *ans "god" or asks "ash" *ansuz /a, aː/ 1
ᛒ b b Β bercna < *bairka "birch" *berkanan /b/ [b, β] 2
/ɡ/ [ɡ, ɣ,
ᚷ g g Γ geuua < giba "gift" *gebō 3
x]; /n/ [ŋ]
ᛞ d d Δ daaz < dags "day" *dagaz /d/ [d, ð] 4
ᛇ e e Ψ Ε eyz < aiƕs "horse" or eiws "yew" *eihwaz, *ehwaz /eː/ 5
q q (Ϛ), ϰ quetra < *qairþra ?/qairna "millstone" (see *perþō) /kʷ/ 6
ᛉ z z Ζ ezec < (?)[6] *algiz /z/ 7
ᚺᚻ h h Η haal < *hagal or *hagls "hail" *haglaz /h/, /x/ 8
ᚦ þ (th) Z Φ, Ψ thyth < þiuþ "good" or þaurnus "thorn" *thurisaz /θ/ 9
ᛁ i i Ι iiz < *eis "ice" *īsaz /i/ 10
ᚲ k k Κ chozma < *kusma or kōnja "pine sap" *kaunan /k/ 20
ᛚ l l Λ laaz < *lagus "sea, lake" *laguz /l/ 30
ᛗ m m Μ manna < manna "man" *mannaz /m/ 40
ᚾ n n Ν noicz < nauþs "need" *naudiz /n/ 50
ᛃ j j G, ᛃ gaar < jēr "year" *jēran /j/ 60
ᚢ u u ᚢ uraz < *ūrus "aurochs" *ūruz /ʊ/, /uː/ 70
ᛈ p p Π pertra < *pairþa ? *perþō /p/ 80
q Ϙ 90
ᚱ R r R reda < *raida "wagon" *raidō /r/ 100
ᛊᛋ s s S, Σsugil < sauil or sōjil "sun" *sôwilô /s/ 200
ᛏ t t Τ tyz < *tius "the god Týr" *tīwaz /t/ 300
uuinne < winja "field, pasture" or winna
ᚹ y w Δ Υ *wunjō /w/, /y/ 400
"pain"
ᚠ f f Ϝ, F fe < faihu "cattle, wealth" *fehu /ɸ/ 500
ᛜᛝ x x Χ enguz < *iggus/*iggws "the god Yngvi" *ingwaz /x/? 600
ƕ (hw) Θ uuaer < *ƕair "kettle" - /hʷ/ 700
ᛟ o o Θ Ω, Ο, ᛟ utal < *ōþal "ancestral land" *ōþala /oː/ 800
�� Ͳ (Ϡ) 900
Table 4: Gothic alphabet, compared to the runic and Latin alphabets, including 4 Chilperic letters
The rune Ask (a “male” human being)
Ask and Embla
In Norse mythology, Ask and Embla (from Old Norse: Askr ok Embla)—male and
female respectively—were the first two humans, created by the gods.
According to chapter 9 of the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, the three brothers Vili,
Vé, and Odin, are the creators of the first man and woman. The brothers were once
walking along a beach and found two trees there. They took the wood and from it
created the first human beings; Ask and Embla. One of the three gave them the breath of
life, the second gave them movement and intelligence, and the third gave them shape,
speech, hearing and sight7.
Since the name of a (“a”) is attested in the Gothic alphabet as ahsa or aza, the common
Germanic name of the rune may thus either have been *ansuz "god", or *ahsam "ear (of
wheat)8".
Yggdrasil
The most satisfactory translation of the name Yggdrasil is ‘Odin’s Horse’. Ygg is another name for
Odin, and drasill means ‘horse’.
◦ "Asc veit ec standa, heitir Yggdrasill”9,
The Anglo-Saxon futhorc split the Elder Futhark “a”-rune into three independent runes
due to the development of the vowel system in Anglo-Frisian. These three runes are ōs ᚩ
(transliterated o), ac "oak" ᚪ (transliterated a), and æsc ᚫ "ash" (transliterated æ).
In all alphabets the rune *ansuz, aza or asks "ash" (Α) symbolizes any "god" or in a
dedicated environment “Odin”:
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasill was often seen as a giant ash tree. The first man, Ask,
was formed from the "ash tree".
”Við” o-o ”Vid” o-o ”vet” o-o ”wet” o-o ”vida” o-o ”vitha”
Also ”wit” or ”Við” (”we two”), ”Vid” (”Woden”), ”vet” (”eternal”), ”wet” (Dutch: ”law”), ”vida”
(”tree”), ”vitha” (West-Slavic: ”runes”) are to be considered as cognate symbols which share a
common root.
In addition, ancient sources, including the Eddas, write about a vetgrønster vida, which
means "evergreen tree"12 and “vet” is “eternal”.