About the Elder Futhark
The Elder Futhark is the oldest documented rune set used across Germanic-speaking regions from roughly the 2nd to the 8th century CE. Composed of 24 runes, it served both as a practical alphabet for carving short inscriptions and as a system rich in symbolic meaning. Each rune often carried a name, a phonetic value and an associated concept — such as wealth, journey, or protection.
This interactive chart focuses on standard digital glyphs (Unicode runes) and provides succinct, modern-friendly meanings and phonetic mappings. It’s designed for learners, hobbyists, game designers, and people looking to create authentic-styled inscriptions or tattoos. Use it with the main translator tool for instant conversions between Latin letters and rune glyphs.
Practical uses
- Learning rune names and sounds.
- Creating historically flavored inscriptions for games and fiction.
- Preparing designs for tattoos or artwork (consult a specialist for permanent designs).
- Quick reference while using the Rune Translator tool on this site.
Best practices
When using runes for personal or creative projects, respect historical contexts and remember that modern transliterations choose readability and utility over absolute historical precision. For academic work, refer to primary sources and specialist literature.