Product Code Database
Ideographic runes appears to have mainly been used for saving space, but they were also mainly used without inflection. Some potential inscriptions might have used such cryptically. The criteria for the use of ideographic runes and the frequency of their use by ancient rune-writers remains controversial.See discussion in for example : 123–124 and : 17. The topic of has produced much discussion among runologists. Runologist Klaus Düwel has proposed two criteria for the identification of ideographic runes: A graphic argument and a semantic argument.
gutanī ōþal wīh hailag (Gothic)
The translation, however, is still up for debate.
Haþuwolafʀ gaf jāra (Proto Norse)
Hådulf gav äring (Modern Swedish)
Heathwolf brought yearly.
Salsi karþi sul → Dagʀ skutʀ i þ--a hiu
Solse gjorde sol → Dager bergsknallen i detta högg (Modern Swedish)
Solse made the sun (decoration on the stone) → Dager hew this into the cliff
During the later Viking Age and Early Nordic Medieval Period, ideographic runes also appear in texts written using Latin script. Such examples include: the Icelandic poem Hávamál in Codex Regius, and the Swedish: Okvädingamål (Old Swedish: Heþnalagh, "heathen law"), written around the 11th century, which feature the Younger Futhark rune ᛘ (, 'man') to save space. The heathen law, for example, begins with:
italic=yes (Old Swedish)
Giver man okvädningsord till annan: Du är ej mans make och ej man i bröstet. → Jag är man som du. (Modern Swedish)
Gives man insult to another: You are not man's equal nor man in the chest. → I am man like you.
The rune is avoided where the word 'man' is used in the inflected form.
Ideographic runes also appear in Anglo-Saxon texts, then as Anglo-Saxon runes; for example, in manuscripts such as Nowell Codex ( Beowulf) and The Exeter Book, the rune ᛗ (mann, 'man') was sometimes used ideographically.
Runologist Thomas Birkett summarized the following about Viking Age ideographic instances as follows:
In Fragmentum Runico-Papisticum (, 'Mary-lament'), written in the 14th–15th century, in either Denmark or Scania (then part of Denmark), a unique ideographic rune is used: a Medieval runes g-rune ᚵ, otherwise known as "stung Kaunan" (compare Old Swedish: stungen kaghen, or geir/gir, of many variants), as an ideograph for 'God'. Whether this represents some conventional period use is unknown. In contemporary Sweden, runes carried many regional names and variations, thus a name like 'God' for the g-rune is not unrealistic, despite the text being in Old Danish or Old Scanian.
Guþ i himiriki Gesus krucificsus miild moþœr te mig þœt iak œftœr girnœs. (Old Danish)
Gud i himmelriket Jesus krucifixus mild moder te mig det jag efter girnas. (Modern Swedish)
God in heaven, Jesus Crucifixus, mild mother, give me that I long for.
The Greenlandic runic inscription GR 43 (14th century) is a cryptic inscription in , which uses both a Q-rune (mirrored ), and a Z-rune (a stung short-twig S : Hanging Sun), and what appears to be an ideographic rune: ᚧ (Ð, Stung Thurs), but with double stings. The Norse name for the unstung rune is Thurs, meaning "evil supernatural being", like Jötunn, but the stung variant, especially this unique double stung one, has no recorded orthodox name, thus its use here is unclear.
| ᛫⋮᛫ ᚽᛚᚮᚿ ᛬ ᛅᛚᚱᚽᛩᚿᚢᛘ ᛬ ᚿᚮᚿᚽᛘ :⋮: ᚽᛚᚮᚿ ᚽᛚᛛᛦ ᛬ ᛬ᚦ ᛬ ᛁᛚᚮᚿ ᛬ ᚱ ᛬ ᛅᛒᚱᛍᛆbᛆᚮᛏ ᛬ ᛍᚽᚮᚿ |
| + elon æ͡lreq͡num nonem : elon elły Ð ilon R æ͡brzabaot zion |
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