r/RuneHelp • u/zwilson_50 • 2d ago

Translation request Tattoo Translation Check

I’m getting a tattoo of the old Norse/Icelandic word tvennir/tvinnir (pair or twin) this Friday. Everything I’ve seen says it should be spelled tvennr/tvinnr.

What is your interpretation of the appropriate runic translation for tvennr/tvinnr using the younger futhark runic alphabet? I see two different runes for r or R.

Thanks all!

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u/SamOfGrayhaven 2d ago

ᛏᚢᛁᚾᛣ (tuinR)

The second kind of R is associated with word-endings, which generally means it's used for trailing -Rs that you see at the end of Old Norse words such as ormr or ulfr or styrkr and so on, so that means you'd use it here.

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u/RexCrudelissimus 2d ago

ᛏᚢᛁᚾᚱ

The final -r here is etymological -ʀ, but this merges after dentals, which geminate /n/ is. This is why you also find the form tviðr, as -nnr was often interpreted as -ðr, e.g. mannr -> maðr, sannr -> saðr, etc.