RUNES [FIRST EDITION]. The modern English word rune (Dan., rune; Swed., runa; Icel. pl., rúnar; Ger., Rune) signifies any character in the ancient Germanic, and especially Scandinavian, alphabet. The word is seemingly derived from a hypothetical...

RUNES [FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS]. The first edition's article on "Runes" has held up well, although some updates are necessary. First, the Noleby stone is now believed to be from c. 600 CE. Second, the word alu, found frequently in...

Scholarly term, taken from Danish in the seventeenth century, denoting the written symbols of the Germanic tribes that were used before the introduction of and, then concurrently with, the Latin writing system. Runes appear to have served magic and...

The name given to the Runic alphabet ( rune). It stands for the names of the first six letters of the alphabet...

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THE ALPHABET by David Sacks Hutchinson, £12.99, pp. 395, ISBN 0091795060 Nourishing alphabet soup Alphabets have always fascinated: Ben Jonson, Samuel Johnson (who didn't approve of his own initial), Descartes, Edward Lear, Kipling; Victor Hugo wasn't the first to be mystical about...

The letters of the alphabet exhibit five varieties of symmetry (or non-symmetry): A M T U V W Y have left-right (vertical) symmetry (.272) v B C D E K have up-down (horizontal) symmetry (.218) h N S Z have 180[degrees] (rotational)...

This essay is about the ancient runic alphabet brought to England during the anglo-saxon invasions. It describes its use in the "elgiac" poems of old English literature and provides us with an understanding of the etymology of our language.