Origin of the Runes (old version)
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Runes were letters in a related group of alphabets used to write early Germanic languages (including Old Norse and Old English). In this exploration of alphabet history, we look at the huge variety of languages and alphabets in ancient Europe that make the question of the runes' origin so fascinating and complicated.
Jackson Crawford, Ph.D.: Sharing real expertise in Norse language and myth with people hungry to learn, free of both ivory tower elitism and the agendas of self-appointed gurus. Visit JacksonWCrawford.com (includes bio and linked list of all videos).
Jackson Crawford’s translation of Hávamál, with complete Old Norse text: www.hackettpub...
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Jackson Crawford’s translation of The Saga of the Volsungs: www.hackettpub...
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I am leaving this video from 2018 up in case someone stumbles on it from an old link, but it does not reflect all of my most current views. I have a current summary of what I think is the most likely derivation for the rune alphabet (and its individual letters) at ruclips.net/video/NwEIqeJaNLY/видео.html
For a thorough but approachable overview of all aspects of the study of runes, look for "Runes: A Handbook" by Michael P. Barnes. For what I think is the best deep dive on the subject of the runes' origin, look for "Runic and Mediterranean Epigraphy" by Richard Lee Morris. I also have many other videos on subjects related to runes and language history in this playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLATNGYBQ-TjrI_zstt5w13eB4IFIcuX_W
Thanks! Just joined your Patreon.
Could the origins be Scythians? What I gather Scythian style tombs, object etc. are found in Scandinavia and Finland -> Maybe when the Persians attacked Scythia in 500 bc, some of the Scythians went further north to areas that they had traded etc. before the attack and thought the Norwegians the runes?
You should look into the electric universe theory. .. Gives a whole new perspective on the gods...
Thank you
If they ever need a new Dos Equis spokesperson I would suggest this man.
Mr Crawford there is an alphabet here in Northen Italy and Swiss called Lepontic and was documented through 700 and 400 BC. When this lookdown will end I will send you some biblio if you like
wow - this is so interesting and did not take the course I was expecting - fascinating subject, thank you Dr Crawford
plus added bonus info about the bristlecone pine - wow, the oldest Pinus longaeva is more than 5,000 years old - wow that's amazing - thank you
It's time for UC to offer an extension course for credit.
Or maybe you could structure your own program on line, that would be designed to dovetail, or port over into the accredited formal UC classes...
*_...or_*_ _*_something._*_ This work's too good to be just RUclips 'entertainment' !!!!!_
I have to watch these videos twice. Once because the content is fascinating and I learn some things. Once because the RUclips captioning can get hilarious when you’re speaking in Norse.
Scythian connection. Great scenery ❤
Χαιρετισμούς από την Αθήνα 🇬🇷
I did not understand.
Fascinating. Your hypothesis does seem very plausible. Thank you for the good work and the great videos. I think I better step up and support you on Patreon.
lol love the intro
Your videos are always wonderful. This one in particular was especially useful for me (as I am an English teacher in Japan, originally from Canada). I am very interested in how the English language was created and see a lot of essential influence from "Nors." Your videos have influenced me a lot so I thank you personally.
Always thank you for your info and generosity in your videos to inform us of how and why we think and speak the way we do. I hope all is well for you my friend.
Here on YT there are two excellent series on the history of English. My personal favorite is the 1986 PBS series,The Story of English.
Not sure how sophisticated your level of interest is,but the companion book, also excellent, has an extensive bibliography.
OK, Dr. Crawford, you seriously need to start an independent film production company (call it "Valhol Productions" or something else Old Norse-y) to make low-budget short-film adaptations of the sagas and myths in the Eddas in the style of spaghetti westerns!
The premise being to take the events portrayed in those Old Norse sources but have them take place in the environment that you're intimately familiar with -- the Rocky Mountain country of Colorado and Wyoming.
That's actually an awesome idea, although I prefer a more "contemporary western" style
Sounds like cultural history rape to me. Sorry.
i mean, i just like the idea of the sagas told in the style of spaghetti western
I am in love with the landscapes, thank you so much for sharing them. I miss the mountains so much! Can't wait to get your books, your videos are the best I've come across. I insanely appreciate how you go out of your way to share this, it's like taking my very own favorite history course from university again. Live long and prosper, sir.
I just bought your paperback poetic edda off amazon. It comes tomorrow and Im so excited!
Free Knowledge
I'm sure you are aware of Sturluson story of Odin and his people migrating from the Caucuses region Anatolia, or more specifically Azerbaijan (Aesir) in the 1st century AD evading Roman occupation. Having traveled through Eastern Europe settling in Saxland, the Island of Fyn in Denmark, Sweden and eventually Norway. This coincides more or less with the first Runic inscriptions being discovered in 2nd century Scandinavia. Whatever the truth may be it is still a fun theory.
Thank you-very much for this video and knowledge
Thank you so much.
Answered all the questions I had!
If anyone is interested 'boustrophedon' means 'ox-turning' because it reads like an on-driven plough tiling the fields.
Your videos are wonderful. Thank you!
The way the camera moved through the trees at the end reminded me of The Force in The Evil Dead.
I had wondered which way the influence went. This makes a great deal of sense.
I really appreciate these videos bruh. Helsing frå Noreg!
This is so cool. I think I missed my calling as a linguist; i could listen to this all day long.
Interesting and well done video. Thanks, I learned some things.
I adore your intro!
Very interesting and cool. Thank you. Your voice is mesmerising 😁
very informative, plus thats a nice shirt.
thank for the lecture, i find them refreshing and informative.
I had wondered which way the influence went. This makes a great deal of sense. The Cyrillic of Greek. LOL
The runic π is obviously from the Greek.
You can turn the runic π into the B by turning the arms by 270 degrees. Probably deliberate design because they are made with the same part of the mouth
I'm totally on board with the "F W Theory" I have thought too much about why so many languages use v and b interchangeably (like in Spanish or better yet, Modern Hebrew: bet & vet are practically the same letter), so this was an ah hah! moment for me, not that it is true yet, but it is a valid notion. Excited to hear more!
Very interesting, more please.. Maybe you could invite someone or several others to have a discussion about this or related topics..? Would be super fascinating to hear what you and your guests have to say. Hugs & sunshine 🌞 N Psst..any plans on finding your way to Instagram..? 🐦🌲🐎 .. the places you film in are so stunningly beautiful..
So interesting!
Were the runes " within the myth of Odin' sticks strewn below the World tree?
Is there any similarities between the Scandinavian runic writing and for example the Novgorod birch bark writing written in Karelian (letter n. 292)?
Yes it is, but the question is, is there any similarities between the Scandinavian writings?
I just wondered if the Karelians were in between the Scandinavians and Novgorod/Russians maybe there was some influence from one another from both sides.
Well yep, the Finno-Ugrians could be the missing piece. Maybe they were living in the area between Hungary and Finland at some point and when Hungary was left in the "pocket" for some reasons the connection broke down.
@@5000Kone Hungary was conquered and settled by the Avars at the Migration period, that's why there's a Finno-Ugric island in the Indo-European sea
Krai, well yes and maybe no. Who were habiting Hungary before Avars? Finnic people have livened in Finland more than 6000 years, Estonia 13,000 to 11,000 years, Latvia and Lithuania was habited by Finno-Ugric people before the Baltics came. Genetically Latvians and Lithuanians are really close to Finno-Ugric. Also the old know pagan traditions have really much similarity.
Language is easy to change by immigration, for example, if you look how the English language was developed. Russian genetic test, especially on the west side of Urals, suggests that that part of Russia is also genetically close to Finno-Ugric people. Some studies suggest that even closer than to Slavic people.
The only countries that I have not yet looked up Finno-Ugric genetic or cultural traces between Finland and Hungary are Poland and Slovakia. So there is just 670km strip between Hungarians and genetically very Finno-Ugric people. Would be interested to see what kind of genetical finding they would find from Poland and Slovakia if they would look up the genetics from all the etnic minorities from those countries.
Maybe the genetical resemblance between Hungarians and other Finno-Ugric people do not come from Avars/ only from Avars, but from the people who´s an area they conquered/ habited? Finno-Ugric people might have populated the whole area from the Urals to the Baltic sea at one point and even to Hungary.
If you look at here, it looks like Slavs have pushed between Finno-Ugrian people.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordvins#/media/File:Muromian-map.png
"Since the Neolithic period the native inhabitants of the Lithuanian territory have not been replaced by any other ethnic group, so there is a high probability that the inhabitants of present-day Lithuania have preserved the genetic composition of their forebears relatively undisturbed by the major demographic movements,[298][299][300] although without being actually isolated from them.[301] The Lithuanian population appears to be relatively homogeneous, without apparent genetic differences among ethnic subgroups"
"A 2004 analysis of MtDNA in the Lithuanian population revealed that Lithuanians are close to the Slavic and Finno-Ugric speaking populations of Northern and Eastern Europe. Y-chromosome SNP haplogroup analysis showed Lithuanians to be closest to Latvians and Estonians.[303]"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuania
"Prehistory
The exact date of the Uralic migration to the region has been disputed. But by using Occam's razor and common sense; the easiest explanation could infer that Livonian was one of many indigenous Finnic dialects spoken in the Baltic region, before the gradual adoption of Indo-European; and the only dialect of this kind to survive Balto-Slavic assimilation."
"The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes (along with Couronians, Selonians and Semigallians), which formed the ethnic core of modern Latvians together with the Finnic Livonians.["
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvia
"The Livonians, or Livs (Livonian: līvlizt), are a Finnic ethnic group indigenous to northern Latvia and southwestern Estonia.[4"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvia
Here are map of Finno-Ugrian people by language. If would be interesting to see the genetical resembelance map; like if you would add Lithuania and Latvia etc.
To me It seem that you could see a "border" there and that the Finno-ugric people could have habited the whole area inside the "border". Not saying that there where somekind of kingdom etc. of that type, but just that perhaps it was habitet culturally and genteically pretty similar looking buch.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finno-Ugric_peoples#/media/File:Fenno-Ugrian_people.png
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finno-Ugric_peoples
Very nice, well-selected filming place!
The topic is also interesting!
Thank you!
This was really interesting. Can I ask what is your opinion on Mario Alinei's theory about the connection between the ancient hungarian and etruscan runic alphabet? I find myself more confused by the day since no one really knows what's going on with hungarian. (I once read somewhere we're aliens haha)
Sorry for any grammar mistakes.
Could the black sea (Crimean) colonies of the Greek states have some role to play?
Thanks, very interesting. The unexplained part of any of theory is the order of the letters, which was something that otherwise remained quite constant as it was transmitted over language families. Even Modern Hebrew (which would have split from Phoenician even before Phoenician itself was settled) has very similar ordering to our alphabet. Since this applied equally to a Greek (or proto Greek), Etruskian or Roman origin, it does not play a part in favouring the one or the other. Perhaps the letters stood for a Germanic rhyme, which was used as a memory aid.
As for the rest, I agree with your Roman timing objection, it was unlikely that it was borrowed from the Romans at the height of Germanic Roman contact. It would have looked much more than the (fairly standarised) Roman alphabet, which already had a lot of straight lines, quite suited for writing on the low tech media available to the Germanic people.
The Greeks were influential in Europe far away from modern Greece, before the rise of the Romans (Gaulish was first written in the Greek alphabet) so there should not be a problem believing that the Greeks could have been in contact with Germanic speakers through an intermediary. It probably wasn’t strong or direct (not aware of Greek loanwords in Germanic that predate the Roman era)
I wrote about this subject in a university assignment, looking at all the earliest finds we have (most of which are from Southern Scandinavia, only a few stray ones outside) as well as comparing the Elder Futhark to Latin, 4th-2nd century BC Greek (as suggested by Antonsen and Morris, rather than 4th century AD as von Friesen would have us), and lastly Camunic (a letter-system related to Etruscan, as suggested by Mees). My conclusion was rather uncontroversial (as opposed to yours, I might say), I quote and translate myself:
"When I, to conclude, have to give you my answer to the questions this assignment is all about, I'll hardly step on anybody's toes or spark a sensation if I dare say that it seems most probable that the Elder Futhark is constructed by one or more - in one or more Southern European letter-systems - proficient individuals residing in Southern Scandinavia during the first century AD."
It seems to me that this hypothesis leads into a atlantic trade driven diffusion.
Dr. Crawford, could you talk about the Rus and their land in Novgorod. And how prominent were Norsemen in Eastern Slavic countries?
Really interesting video.
I love it.
Have you found any connection with Iberian inscriptions (e.g. author Antonio Arribas, "The Iberians", or A. Tovar, "The Ancient languages of Spain and Portugal") in regards to the early Germanic runes? I'm assuming that Phoenician domination over Tartessos in 800 BC must have been some kind of influence in language and script, but I'm not an academic since Ancient History is just one of many esoteric interests of mine. Thank you for your great work.
Since Germanic languages were phonetically so different to Latin doesn't it make sense that they would adapt the aesthetic of the alphabet? Not to mention a desire to make it their own. I'm thinking of the Irish script Ogham which is thought to come from the Latin alphabet but looks nothing like it. Whether it came from the Latin or the Greek alphabet the aesthetic is changed. I'm no expert, just my two cents. Interesting subject.
It is mentioned by both ancient latin and Greek writers that the Gauls (Celts) used the Greek alphabet to write in their own language. Caesar mentions this specifically. It's likely the Celts and Germans had rather close contact. Is it possible they borrowed a variant Greek alphabet from the Gauls?
Would you ever consider lecturing at a university in Scandinavia?
Norse mythology daddy #1❤❤❤❤❤
Hmmm so you think it was a Dacian, Illyrian, or Scythian use of Greek alphabet that was then transmitted to the Germanic people through trade. That's possible. I've always wondered if the Roman invasions of Gaul didn't force refugees out which then would flee into Germany where their people had trading partners. That also could have led to interesting things happening around the correct time.
Macedonian via the Seleucid Empire where it melded with Persian Aramaic
Could there have been a connection due to Greek interactions with Mesopotamian cultures and/or Scythian cultures? Certain germanic cultures might have come out of Scythia. This is so fascinating to listen to - thank you.
The roman alphabet wasn't that fixed, Spain kept different scripts very similar to the runes that were used even during the Arab dominion of Spain. And there are registers in Arab literature in Spain that they held captives "riders from the north"
I have always thought that the Havamal describes Odinn's search for the hidden knowledge of the Runes rather than the actual figures. I think that it's the best part of the Poetic Edda but I always stumbled over stanza 140 until I read the Glossary of Names in your translation thar explains who Bolthorn was. I think that most of the problem is that the most recent translation that I had used was that of Olive Bray (1908) until I came across your edition. The English of Bray seems to be like the KJV of the bible which I believe she did to make it seem more archaic but to me it was confusing.
I tend to look at it as Odin searching for knowledge, information, truth, and the runes being symbolic for all of this, as we use letters to gather, store and convey knowledge. Without writing, every generation, every evolution would have to almost start from scratch, and so it is within writing that all knowledge is contained and can be passed on.
@@ajdegroot1980 ^^^
I think the historical reality is probably way closer to your view. Language used to be so much more powerful in the minds of ancient people so the ability to physically represent language would've been nothing short of revolutionary. I think the idea that each individual rune represents a unique arcane concept is just a projection of Renaissance-era sigil magic onto something that only ever served as an alphabet.
I think ancient people probably looked at writing similar to how modern people think about computer code. By being able to read and write, you could both understand and manipulate the essence of reality, because language defines how reality gets perceived. Some would say that's an astonishingly modern concept but ancient people had a lot of time to think about this kind of stuff. It's so much more profound and powerful than just saying the letter S represents the power of the sun or whatever.
Your theory is logical. The Greeks had settlements on the Black Sea coast and in the Crimea. The surrounding nations could receive scripture from them, and with the arrival of the Germanic Goths in the Black Sea area, it became a Germanic runes.
Do you have any insights on the ogham alphabet or maybe have you adressed it in another video? I'm curious as to your thoughts on its origin and history. I know it isn't specifically your area, but was wondering if you had come across anything noteworthy.
As a media manager, when I wear my Designer's hat, the Ogham Runes are my favorite as a graphic element... _(as runes goo)_
Very interesting hypothesis, it seems very solid, although I'm not 100% sure about the "midleman" element. I'm speaking from memory but I think it make sense that Germanic people contacted thru trade somewhere around the Danube via riverine trave or thru a plausible comercial route from the Venice area to what's now Austria (which could explain that Western Greek alphabets features i totally agree with) What do you think?
PS: I'm very intrigued but the hypothesis mentioned in another comment that, IMHO, involves a Atlantic trade network driven diffusion. This could made sense, knowing that Mediterranean trademen, specially Phoenicians, established early on a strong comercial activity all along Atlantic coast based on tin...)
All the best... Skol
Something I've wondered about in studying alphabets over the years regards the Cyrillic alphabet (the alphabet that most modern-day Slavic speakers use, each with their own unique variants for specific characters/letters) is that it appears to me to be a hodge-podged alphabet comprising symbols borrowed from various European and Mediterranean world alphabets (Greek, Roman, Hebrew and even some Nordic runes).
Is this so?
The Cyrillic alphabet was developed by fanboys of St. Cyril, who was a Greek monk credited with developing the Glagolothic script which is really the first Slavic writing system. It's almost entirely derived from Greek along with some additional letters to represent sounds that the 9th century Greek alphabet couldn't represent. I'm not sure if those other letters took some inspiration from other languages but yeah it's mostly derived from Greek. A lot of Russian people actually have a pretty easy time figuring out the Greek alphabet for this reason.
Most European scripts ultimately trace their origin from the Phoenician alphabet, which ultimately traces its origin to Egyptian hieroglyphics, so all of this stuff is insanely interconnected.
Sir i have a question about rune literacy during the Viking age like it's impressive right or am I wrong
I think you are right about the Greek variant. It makes logical sense. I don't see why not.
I came across some Etruscan words on youtube, noticed some similarities, like 'esir' as a name for the gods worshipped by the late kings before latin took over. Is it possibly from PIE or is it from a later wave of european languages that the term asa and æsir developed?
". . .what we know as the Greek alphabet because its what fraternities and sororities write their names in . . . '
And I'm wiping coffee off my monitor.
Boustrophedon "ox-turning" from the Greek bous, "ox", strophē, "turn" and don, "like, in the manner of"; that is, turning like oxen in plowing a field. I always liked the mental image that word creates..
It seems to me, the contact with Greek and Latin cultures is a very logical explanation. The Cyrillic alphabet was supposedly compiled by Saints Cyril and Methodius as they adapted Greek and Latin letters for use in Slavic languages. For some unique sounds, they apparently created a few letters on their own. I suspect an early form of vodka helped out.
I can believe the people that spoke like your recitation WERE conquerors...
It is outside the scope of the channel, but is there evidence that these Old Germanic runes impacted things like the Old Turkic runes and Old Hungarian "Rovas Iras"?
Some northern european horses share alot of genetic similarities with mongolian horses. I don't know when but at some point in history northern europeans had trading relations with the mongol tribes. Runic inscriptions might have made their way over to the steppes that way.
Did anyone notice the bird at 3:23?
Thank u
❤️
He hung for 9 days to learn the runes. I love my gods
Looking mighty drengr today
America’s original nordic cowboy. 🤠
Thanks for taking the risk on a hypothesis, it’s more plausible actually than many others you mentioned and I’ve skimmed over due to the relative influence of the “goths” at the time, and poignantly all that remains of them is dust so to speak. That’s why the work you do is so important for European Americans and quite frankly Europeans, as Academia (at large) really attempts to bury us in the multi-culti nightmare.
Wait… Colorado? 😳
❤❤❤
Hey Dr Crawford, besides runes ,Do we have another symbols and their meaning ?
Perhaps the early Germanics copied the Futhark24 from early Romans using one Greek alphabet? Then everybody will be happy! (Or not, if I know something about academy).
Was drawn to this researching links between the Danes and Old Irish, with the theories being thrown below do any believe the idea of our Milesians peoples could have had a role to play? Allot of the characteristics, blacksea/sythian, greek, Phoenician/possible Hebrew (Danaan/tuathe de danann). Any thought or updates on this video would be much appreciated.
That was great! but I'm just going to go with what Odin said.
I stumbled across your channel while searching and have started to watch your videos I was wondering as I haven't seen anything yet and cant seem to really find anything too easy about the actual holidays and traditions of the Nordic religion. I know about Jol but there just doesnt seem to be much information about the holidays traditions or the rituals. I know that when Christianity took over they tended not to record much on other religions and not much was ever recorded by the Nordic people but I am interested in learning some about it. What did they celebrate? when? how? I cant seem to find much from the few searches I have tried it interest me.
Nordics had different types of religions; Scandinavians had a more uniform type. The finno-Ugric litte bit different.
What I´ve read the main holidays where the Midsummer, harvest and midwinter, and spring holidays; all connected to farming and sun and later replaced by Christian holidays. Basícally to know on what time of year you were going; when to plant, when the summer starts to get shorter, when the harvest is over and when the winter has passed more than half. All celebrations seem to have a lot to do with eating ;) I have not studied a lot of Swedish holidays but they seem to have pretty similar dates than other European nations.
Do not know much of the Swedish ritual, but know some of the Finnish ones.
Midsummer/Mayday has maybe the most rituals still alive around Europe and they do share a quite much similarity around the Baltics, Finno-Ugric countries, "Slavic" people and Germanic people; all burn fires and many of the rituals seem very similar. Wiki has quite a good comparison on the rituals etc. In Finland it was "Ukko´s juhla"/the celebration of one of the main gods. Maypole is common at least in Germanic countries but not in Finland.
Here some Finnish folk magic that is still used by some :)
"In folk magic, midsummer was a very potent night and the time for many small rituals, mostly for young maidens seeking suitors and fertility. Will-o'-the-wisps were believed to appear at midsummer night, particularly to finders of the mythical "fern in bloom" and possessors of the "fern seed", marking a treasure. In the old days, maidens would use special charms and bend over a well, naked, in order to see their future husband’s reflection. In another tradition that continues still today, an unmarried woman collects seven different flowers and places them under her pillow to dream of her future husband.[28]"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer
Sweden does have the "Jul goat" also but the Santa Claus is there called Jul tontten meaning Christmas elf. In Finland, the Santa Claus is called Joulupukki and the straight translation is "Christmas goat/buck". The Kekri goat was the original and Santa Claus is a combination of Kekri pukki and Saint Nicolaus.
The old "kekripukkis" punished the evil children and left the good kids alone. Kekri in Finland was the last check; the kekripukki checked that every house had enough food to last for the long winter, it was also holiday meaning free time for maids and farm labourers. Also a celebration of fertility and good crops. In old Finnish tradition, Kekri goat was often travelling with "Kylän Kaisa" what was the villages most handsome man that were dressed like a woman and looked after of the Kekri goat and of "the fairy of abundance" that had multiple nipples.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kekri_(fest)
Here one picture of the "old santa" from 1928 www.finna.fi/Record/musketti.M012:KK2102:255
Do not know is some of the old religion/traditions still living in the back of Finnish minds but still, the most children are conceived about the same time as the Kekri would be ;)
I remember 2 of his videos about this kind of subject (ruclips.net/video/qv8UVW3mBhw/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/UUloIBXFOQE/видео.html) and indeed the evidence is very scarce, unfortunately. He might have more videos about it that I can't remember or haven't watched yet, but I recommend searching and watching everything in this channel, the material is amazing.
i didnt realize there were non indo euroepan speakers at the time of roman conquest. who were these peoples?
In Europe? There were a lot. E.g: Etruscans, Basques, Iberians, phoenician colonies...
+Krai
also Finns
You speak of the runes as a writing system, but what about their use for magic? Tacitus wrote about symbols used in divination in 98 AD; could such magic sigils explain some of the differences between the runes and Greek alphabets?
So it might. The direction I was going was the possibility that some of the divination symbols were absorbed as letters to fill in some of the different sounds in Norse as opposed to Greek, and that might explain some of the differences in the alphabets.
Writing in a preliterate society is by its very nature magical. Knowledge of the runes early on might have been seen as a kind of magic. Certainly by historic times, the runes were used in a more prosaic manner.
Rune magic is almost certainly a modern creation, based very loosely on the few references that remain in the sagas and other Norse sources. This creation is similar to the creation of modern paganism, including Wicca and Witta and the lot, in the twentieth century.
We humans, by nature, are tool-makers (not the first, evolutionarily-speaking as chimpanzees and others amongst our ape cousins show the capacity to be able to make and use tools). Language, both spoken and written, is a tool -- one that exponentially deepened our ability to communicate with one another as opposed to non-simian/non-human animals who are limited in regards to the layers of meaning that they can apply to the sounds they are capable of making and are much more reliant upon body language signals than we are when it comes to direct versus indirect communication. A given culture having a written language in use in compliment to their spoken language has a distinct advantage over one that is reliant upon only a spoken language meaning that one-to-one communication and information-sharing can happen remotely in both space and time and isn't dependent upon its participants being in face-to-face real-time proximity to one another. That advantage can indeed seem "magical" to one who isn't literate being exposed to individuals who are who can obtain information from someone(s) without the need for them to be physically present with them in the act of sharing that information.
Projecting thought on to the physical plane is about as magical as it gets. We've just lost appreciation because it's the new normal.
Any alphabet will do.
Greek and Latin was commonly used. blogs.getty.edu/iris/an-ancient-curse-revealed/
Egyptian worked too:
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3601794/Ancient-Egyptian-spellbook-revealed-Papyrus-contains-curses-claim-burn-heart-woman-make-men-exactly-want.html
Not making a religious point, but a historical one: a Saxon monk (or several of them) translated the story of Jesus’ sacrifice into a form thought to be more acceptable to Germanic peoples. Jesus is described as a brave young war chief who climbed the Tree/Rood/Cross himself to hang and die as a sacrifice.
Of course, I thought of this when you retold the story that Odin told in Havamal about how he found the runes.
I knew it!
What are your thoughts on The Icelandic Magic Company's book on runes, Runes: The Icelandic Book of Fuþark? I'd also be curious about your thoughts on the other book they sell, The Sorcerer’s Screed. They are expensive, but seem very authentic.
10:50 I find similarities to Turkic script
hey I really wanna know how do you write the word "runes" or "runic" in elder futhark script. and what is the real name of "runes" and"runes" is already english simplified... please please please answer this.... thanks
Noþhelm Blodcyning thank!!
Minoans must have had an influence, as they influenced the Mycenae.
On the language yes, but the script has no traceable relationship. The Phoenician alphabet was picked up after the Greek Dark Age and the decline of the Mycenaean script, which was a syllabary probably related to the (currently indecipherable) Minoan script of the late Bronze Age.
Still too difficult to discern I'd say. One possible linguistic connection but with respect, too many "maybe's". Not all too important since we'll never truly know for certain (until we traverse to the other side) how anything began. Yes, I may be biased being a practicing Pagan, but I still seek the sciences since I accept that bad science equals bad religion. I have always enjoyed all your academic videos.
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
Could it just have been Odin in disquise?? Lol
Why not just import Roman alphabet? identity perhaps, in that time there was no concept of Europe, there was no concept of Germany until the 1800s all the Germanic tribes saw each other as different nations.
you know your name works both ways. jackson crawford. crawford jackson. it's boustrophedonic! you probably heard that already.
The Gauls sometimes used the Greek alphabet... I wonder if one of their tribes in what's now Germany could've had a version in use and held on to it when they were Germanised? But that's probably complicating things waaaay too much and introducing unnecessary intermediate steps.
Byrger tidesson is the inventor of the runes🙄
Wait... So it WASN'T Odin!?
You are great the intro isn’t
I wonder where the Goths went
Given the bronze age international Europe, Asia and Africa, there was several written languages of some or all was known and used in Scandinavia. A rest of them may have remained in different parts of the collapsed bronze age culture. The hettites, a indo european speaking people, wrote on clay tablets, not suitable for the moist northern climate. Beech bark and wood is better here. Hence the straight lines of the runes.
When you're drengr and ya know it 😏