| |
Runelore
|
The Norse runes have become imbued with magic and mystery in pop culture. They have appeared in video games, books, and movies, and continue to instill awe in the fantasies of modern man. But these character sets have a history and a cultural purpose distinct from the imaginations of new age writers and digital entertainment.
One of the primary reasons runes are so fascinating is because the Norse were a surprisingly literate people. In a time when most cultures were comprised of individuals who could not even write their name, Norsemen were leaving runic graffiti across Europe all the way to modern day Turkey. From elaborate rune stones to strange etchings in churches and hidden glens, these inscriptions were a source of mystery for many centuries after.
Unlike our modern alphabet the runes were not just a character set. Each one had a phonetic meaning, a literal meaning, and a symbolic meaning. The runes were not just pictograms, and these symbolic meanings were far from random. The significance of each runic character was encoded in the rune poems, of which only three survive today.
The rune poems were separated by centuries. This is important because it shows that some of the meanings of the symbols changed as the culture and environment changed. From a linguistic standpoint these are fascinating bits of history that demonstrate the adaptation of the character set as new phonetic variances began to appear in the northern dialects.
|
|
|
|
|
|
