Anglo-Saxon (Anglo-Frisian) Alphabet

By Alex Kriteman March 30, 2011

Origins of the Alphabet – Elder Futhark

Developed from an earlier alphabet, named the Elder Futhark

Derived from an alphabet with 24 runes Runes- means “secret, something hidden” Knowledge of runes was originally considered

to be restricted to the elite class Thought to be created for magical signs and

charms and not a writing system

Transition to Anglo-Saxon Alphabet

2 theories Developed in Frisia (the southeastern corner of

the North Sea) and later spread to England Runes were first introduced to England from

Scandinavia where the futhorc was modified and then exported to Frisia

Transition (continued)

In England, the futhorc was further extended to 28 and finally to 33 runes

Anglo-Saxon Futhorc was generally used from 400 A.D. to 1100 A.D.

Runic writing in England became closely associated with Latin scripture and Christian scripture in the 7th century

Features of the Alphabet

Called “Futhorc” after the first 7 letters of the alphabet

Up to 33 characters with no horizontal lines Expanded due to sound changes in Old English The direction of writing varied, though later

the writing developed from left to right No spaces between words, but sometimes

dots were used

Features (Continued)

Use of runes include being inscribed on stone slabs, stone crosses, bones, rings, brooches, weapons, urns, writing tablets, sun dials, combs, caskets, and dishes

Used for spells, divination, poems, and ornamentation

Actual Anglo-Saxon Alphabet 400 – 1100 A.D.

The Loss of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc

Started to be replaced by the Latin alphabet in the 9th century

Gradually replaced by the Younger Futhork The Norman Conquest marks the end of Old

English and the beginning of Middle English

Modern References and Uses

Nazis used runes in their party symbols J.R.R. Tolkien used runes in his book The

Hobbit on a map The character of Hermione studies runes in

the Harry Potter series Modern English derived from Anglo-Frisian

dialects

References

http://www.omniglot.com/writing /runic.htm http://www.uponreflection.co.uk/runes/rune

_histroy.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runicalphabet