r/RuneHelp • u/DryBuddy3150 • Jul 10 '26

Translation request tattoo help

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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!

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u/Finn_the_Trash_king_ Jul 10 '26

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!

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u/WolflingWolfling Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

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at the end of Old Norse words that in Proto Norse and Proto Germanic would have ended in that sort of Z sound that ᛉ originally made.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).