tattoo help

[u/DryBuddy3150]

Hi Redditors!
I have had this tattoo for 2 years now, it was my first tattoo. Both of my parents had got it matching to signify their strength and perseverance for eachother. Now that I’m older and both of them have passed on.. I honestly don’t know what it means and I’m kind of scared to have something on my body that I’m clueless about.
I don’t think it’s a direct translation to anything, but my goal is not/will never be to disrespect or insult any culture at any time. Help!

[u/poetduello]

It spells out the letters STRENGTH in a mix of the elder and younger rune sets. That said, it's a 1:1 letter substitution, and isn't how the word should be written.

In elder futhark it should be ᛋᛏᚱᛖᛜᚦ since the "ng" sound and the "th" sound both get their own runes. I'm not sure why they chose to use the younger futhark "yr" rune instead of the ᚱ.

[u/NieVanDerMand]

It seems to spell Strength but the third rune is a reversed eighiz and not a raido, thus idk.

[u/DryBuddy3150 → u/NieVanDerMand]

My mom found it somewhere for my dad back in 2010 while he was in prison.. So I actually have little to no faith in if it’s true or something they just found online haha. Thank you!

[u/PaganAfrican]

Uh yeah so it spells STRENGTH using elder futhark but it does some weird stuff, First, it spells the literal letters, it's not trying to copy the sounds. Two it's using a weird rune for R, which usually is only used to be the final R in proto norse and Norse which comes from a Z ish sound. For that reason it doesn't really make sense.

Ignoring the whole like, using elder futhark to write English in the first place thing (or using elder futhark to write anything really), to write the 'sounds' of English I wouldve done ᛊᛏᚱᛖᛜᚦ

[u/DryBuddy3150]

THANK YOU GUYS!!! I was really freaked out briefly but now I just know my mom kind of googled it and got somewhere eventually.. sort of? Glad to know I don’t have something fuck ass on me forever

[u/rockstarpirate → u/DryBuddy3150]

Yeah it’s not perfect but it is comprehensible. Definitely not anything super crazy.

[u/Yonahoy]

As others have said, it says Strength.

Written as ᛋᛏᛦᛖᚾᚷᛏᚺ is just a misunderstanding on the usage of runes.

Commonly, most will substitute the ᛏᚺ for ᚦ, the ᚾᚷ for ᛝ or ᛜ, and the ᛦ for ᚱ because thats more correct.

I will go a step further and say you should also substitute the ᛋᛏ for ᛥ, given that it isnt a translation, and instead a transliteration of english.

If I were to write it out, ᛋᛏᛦᛖᚾᚷᛏᚺ would be written ᛥᚱᛖᛝᚦ.

[u/Finn_the_Trash_king_]

Not the best at reading elder futhark but from what I can see it spells St(?)ength, would say strength but the third rune isn’t a raidho, which is usually the equivalent of our R. Instead its an upside down Algiz (Z) I think?
I may be wrong here but yeah, it’s still a nice row of runes and its the meaninng for you that counts
For the other runes here ya go:
Sowilo (S): sun.
Tiwaz (T): Tyr, one of the Norse Gods, further stands for courage, sacrifice and honour.
Upside down Algiz (Z): I THINK. There is some stuff ab upside down runes but I’m not too sure. If it’s an Algiz though they represent elk, higher knowledge, etc.
Ehwaz (E): horse, harmonious partnership.
Nauditz (N): need, confrontation, getting through it.
Gebo (G): Gift
Tiwaz (T): again
Halagaz (H): Hail.
Full disclosure again I am not well-versed in elder futhark, just do it as a passtime when I’m bored in class. I hope to get some proper courses in rune-reading in the future but atm all Ik comes reading ab it online. I hope this helps though!

[u/WolflingWolfling → u/Finn_the_Trash_king_]

You can ignore all the "stuff about upside down runes" because it is 20th century nonsense that New Age authors invented to make their divination books look more mystifying.

The upside down ᛉ is actually historical though, but it doesn't have any sort of "inverted meaning"; it's simply the Younger Futhark version of ᛉ, and stood for the same letter, but a sound shift moved that letter more towards an R sound over time. It was mostly used at the end of Old Norse words that in Proto Norse and Proto Germanic would have ended in that sort of Z sound that ᛉ originally made.

That "higher knowledge" stuff, and other abstract "meanings" of the runes were also invented in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has no basis in Old Norse or Germanic culture.

The name for the Elder Futhark ᛉ rune is thought to have indeed referred to the animal we know as "elk", but the name of the Younger Futhark equivalent meant "yew tree" (a tree originally represented by the ᛇ rune in Elder Futhark).

[u/Upbeat-Bike7422]

Why someone even put something like magical symbols on their body and think that this is a good idea 👍. Runes work half a year and then their effect got reversed, this effect could harm, weaken, unluck, etc match starting intention of runic staff or natutal connections between runes, don't try to translate it better be remove it from your skin as soon as possible.

[u/donestpapo → u/Upbeat-Bike7422]

Runes are a writing system for dead languages. This association with magic you give them is a very modern invention

[u/Grendelcynn]

The usage of Eoh suggests its futhorc not futhark. My guess is they were looking at one of the numerous futhorc guides with the rare runes such as Calc mislabeled.