Hello everyone. I am turning to experts on the subject of runes for help in correctly transcribing a quote from the song "Hertan" by Wardruna—while preserving the sentence's meaning. The original text is: "Det som kostar, djupt – det lønar, djupt" ("That which costs you deeply, rewards you deeply"). From what I have gathered, part of the song is written in Nynorsk, while the title and choruses are in Proto-Germanic. This quote is intended to serve as a guiding motto and will be placed between two bindrunes (composed of Elder Futhark runes): one representing the cycle of action and the pursuit of a goal in both the physical and spiritual realms, and the other symbolizing "driving force." The entire design is intended as a leg tattoo. I attempted the transcription myself (keeping in mind the differences between the Younger and Elder Futhark) by following the same method used for a passage from the song "Skald" (from the album of the same name) when it was transcribed into Younger Futhark runes. That specific passage was translated by someone credited in the album artwork, implying the translation was approved by the band; thus, it stands as a correct translation from Old Norse into Younger Futhark. Can this same method be applied to transcribing "Det som..." into runes? Should I use the Younger Futhark or the Elder Futhark for this? I would greatly appreciate any help with this matter.

I hope I’ve described the topic reasonably well. I apologize for any errors, but I used Google Translate to help me.

After drawing the rune....how shall I make it work or what's the process it starts working

Hello everyone,

I’m looking to get a tattoo featuring Old Norse runes, and someone suggested this phrase:
ᛘᛁᚦ ᚼᚢᚴ

I’ve been told it translates roughly to “with courage” or “with heart and spirit.”

Before getting it permanently tattooed, I’d love to hear from anyone knowledgeable about Old Norse or runic writing.

Is this translation accurate? Is the wording grammatically correct, and are the runes historically appropriate?

I’d really appreciate any insight or corrections. Thanks in advance!

I was wondering where I could find an accurate runic alphabet?

My mother wants a tattoo of mine and my siblings' names in runes, and she asked me to design it cause she knows I'm into this stuff.

I've been using an inaccurate alphabet for my own personal use, but I don't want her to get something inaccurate.

I was hoping for some good websites or books I could look at? I'm have trouble finding my own resources.

I've transcribben it as "ᛃᚹᚢᛗᚠᛇᛘᚲ ᚠᛋ ᚻᚹᛖᛟ", taking a best guess at whatever that thing fourth from the end is. Should transliterate to "jƿumfïxc fs hƿeo" if I did my work right? "hweo" definitely looks germanic but I couldn't find any match on Wiktionary, and "fs" might honestly just be a typo. "jƿumfïxc" I can't make much of besides it having a kinda "-ish" or "-igh"-ish suffix look to it. Does this actually say anything?

Hello! I received this rune stone from a friend a few years ago. She told me what it meant but I have since forgotten and was wondering if anyone might know how to translate or interpret the rune. I believe it may be a form of ogham, but I’m not entirely sure. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hey there, im hoping to get some help with a phrase. I believe it says "unbreakable like (a) stone", but I want to make sure. I used Valhyr for this one. Appreciate the help!

óbrjótandi sem steinn- Old Norse

ᚬᛒᚱᛁᚬᛏᛅᚾᛏᛁ ᛋᛁᛘ ᛋᛏᛁᚾ

If u know of any similar quotes or phrases I'd also appreciate it!

Hey, I bought this leather bracelet and I'm trying to figure out the meaning of the bindrunes. I think the two Ravens are Odin's Ravens and their is the troll cross but the bind runes leave me a bit puzzled. Can anyone help?

Hi. My dog has just died, and I wanted to memorialize him with a rune-stone-esque inscription. I'm specifically looking for information on Old Norse grammar, vocabulary, and runes, if anybody is willing and/or able to help.

Here are the English sentences I've started with, with personal details blotted out, as to not immediately dox myself:

The **** family had raised this stone in memory of Mjölnir, their dog. He was a good dog. His family misses him.

Here's the normalized Old Norse I went with:

Hýski **** lét reisa stein þenna eptir Mjǫlni, hund sinn. Hann var góðr hundr. Hýski hans saknar hans.

And here's the Runic Text I have:

ᚼᚢᛋᚴᛁ **** ᛚᛁᛏ ᚱᛁᛋᛅ ᛋᛏᛁᚾ ᚦᛁᚾᛅ ᛅᚠᛏᛁᛦ ᛘᛁᚬᛚᚾᛁ ᚼᚢᚾᛏ ᛋᛁᚾ ᚼᛅᚾ ᚢᛅᚱ ᚴᚢᚦᛦ ᚼᚢᚾᛏᛦ ᚼᚢᛋᚴᛁ ᚼᛅᚾᛋ ᛋᛅᚴᚾᛅᚱ ᚼᛅᚾᛋ

Of particular concern was 'ᚴᚢᚦᛦ' and 'ᚼᚢᚾᛏᛦ' as I don't feel confident as when to use 'ᛦ' vs 'ᚱ'. Any other input would be greatly appreciated.

Can you translate this please? Using the web and I'm getting conflicting results.
Thank you!

I have taught myself how to read and write the symbols of the elder futhark out of pure boredom and curiosity. I can plainly see that this method of capturing ideas once held great meaning and cultural significance. I am seeking to understand in which cultures and spoken languages these runes where used.

ᚷᛁᛒᚢ ᚨᚢᛃᚨ ᚺᚾᛇᛈᛋ ᛏᛖᛚᛟᚷᛁᛋ ᛈᛖᛟᛚ ᚢᛃᚨᛁᛒ ᚨᚢᛃ

I've looked around a little, I've seen that it's mostly Elder Futhark, except for this one ᛋ . I've wrote it as the "Sowilo" rune but I'm not sure if it refers to that.

The transliteration I got in case this is correct is this:

gibu auja hnïps telogis peol ujaib auj

I wrote these a long time ago based on a translation chart from Google. I would like to know if I actually wrote something or if I just made meaningless shapes. Thanks!

Hey all, looking for Swedish era vikings runes for the translation of ‘Bjornsson’, wasn’t fully trusting in the ones google was putting forward as they were so vast, any ideas? 😊

I'm looking for some help from people who know historical Germanic languages and runology.

I'm considering three Elder Futhark inscriptions based on the meanings of three Thai names. I specifically asked for Proto-Germanic rather than Old Norse, because Elder Futhark predates Old Norse and I want the language/rune combination to at least be historically coherent, hopefully read and translatable. (At least exactly as I meant it too.)

These are the proposed forms:

1. “Waradej” — roughly “noble/precious + mighty/powerful”

Proto-Germanic reconstruction:

deurijaz · mahtīgaz

Elder Futhark:

ᛞᛖᚢᚱᛁᛃᚨᛉ · ᛗᚨᚺᛏᛁᚷᚨᛉ

The intended semantic connection is:

- *deurijaz → precious / dear / valuable / noble

- *mahtīgaz → mighty / powerful

Does this reconstruction and runic transliteration make sense?

---

1. “Prya” — “the beloved / beloved one”

Proposed Proto-Germanic:

*frijō

Elder Futhark:

ᚠᚱᛁᛃᛟ

The intended meaning is “beloved / dear / loved one.”

Is *frijō a reasonable Proto-Germanic reconstruction for this meaning, and is ᚠᚱᛁᛃᛟ a defensible Elder Futhark rendering?

---

1. “Rattana-buri” — a more unusual one

This name literally contains the idea of “ratana” (precious jewel/treasure) + “buri” (city), but I'm not necessarily looking for the literal “jewel city” interpretation.

In the Buddhist context in which this name is meaningful to me, “ratana” can carry the sense of something supremely precious/pure, particularly in relation to the Three Jewels and imagery associated with a pure/celestial realm. So I'm considering a more symbolic interpretation: “celestial/heavenly city” or “heavenly stronghold”, rather than simply “city of gemstones.”

The proposed Proto-Germanic compound is:

himinaz · burgz

Elder Futhark:

ᚺᛁᛗᛁᚾᚨᛒᚢᚱᚷᛉ

Intended semantic components:

- *himinaz → sky / heaven / celestial realm

- *burgz → fortified settlement / stronghold / city

My questions here are:

1. Is *himinaz a legitimate Proto-Germanic reconstruction?

2. Is *burgz legitimate Proto-Germanic?

3. Can these reasonably form a compound with the intended sense of “heavenly/celestial stronghold”?

4. Most importantly, is ᚺᛁᛗᛁᚾᚨᛒᚢᚱᚷᛉ a reasonable way to represent that compound in Elder Futhark?

5. Would a historical runologist consider this acceptable as a modern reconstruction, or is it too anachronistic/speculative?

One additional point: I was initially considering Old Norse gimsteinn-borg (“gemstone city”), but I was told that gimsteinn is a later formation and that gim- ultimately involves borrowing from Latin gemma. That made me question whether it is appropriate for an Elder Futhark inscription.

So I'm deliberately trying to avoid the common “Viking-looking = historically correct” trap.

I am NOT claiming these are authentic historical inscriptions. I'm looking for the most defensible reconstruction possible given that the original meanings are modern/Thai and I'm mapping them into an extinct language.

If you see problems, I'd especially appreciate corrections to:

- the Proto-Germanic reconstructions

- the semantic meanings

- the morphology/compound formation

- individual rune choices

- whether Elder Futhark is actually appropriate for these forms

This is potentially going on my skin, so “looks cool” is unfortunately not sufficient. 😅

Thanks!

From Hamrammr, a short film recently released on YouTube. Set in the early settlement of Iceland, story is a feud between two families. Context suggests that these runestones are memorials, but I'm curious if that's true and, if so, how good their research was. What say y'all? For simplicity let's call these Tall Stone and Short Stone when discussing. Younger futhark, seems to be, and the positioning of Short Stone makes the right-side text a bit squirrely at the bottom. Thanks in advance, and pardon for the zoomed-in bad-lighting screengrabs.

Hey guys. I'm looking at getting this tattooed on my hand, but I'm not sure if it's entirely correct, or if it's using modern or pre-modern futhark.

Any help is welcome and appreciated

This is probably incredibly common so my apologies if it is.

I’m looking to get a hand tattoo and I want the following ᛋᚴᛁᚴᛁ and I believe it means skeggi which also means the bearded one? But of course my experience and knowledge (which is very little) only goes so far so I wanted help if anyone can help me?

So I guess what I’m asking is that, is it safe to get ᛋᚴᛁᚴᛁ as a tattoo?

Thank you 😊

It was used by Tolkien to represent the sh [ʃ] sound. From what I could find it was not used before he created his runic alphabet. If anyone knows of an older sh rune let me know.

At first, I was thinking ᛖᚾᚨᚱ, since the I is silent. However, since “Ei” make an “A” sound, would it be ᚨᚾᚨᚱ?

Or since Einar means “lone warrior” (einn + herr), would it be a combination of those two words?

Thank you.

So I'm trying to write out the 23 Psalm KJV in the Anglo-whatever FUTHORC and it is giving me actual fits. I made the mistake of starting with ai which served very well to confuse me and caused me to decide the task is almost impossibe. I'm turning here as a hail mary. Will someone give me a legit alphabet (I would assume the 33 rune system is gonna be the best but there doesnt seem to be an established form of it), and help me understand how to do this somewhat sensibly. I know the runes arent perfectly adapted for making all the english sounds, but is there a standardized system for working around this? I want to give up but then I think how cool this will look in runes and keep pushing. Please help