Англо-фриз және англо-саксон руналары: Футорк жазуының тарихы

Symbols used in the writing system of early Frisians and Anglo Saxon peoples

Anglo Saxon runes or Anglo Frisian runes are runes that were used by the Anglo Saxons and Medieval Frisians (collectively called Anglo Frisians) as an alphabet in their native writing system, recording both Old English and Old Frisian (, ᚱᚢᚾᚪ, "rune"). Today, the characters are known collectively as the futhorc (ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ, fuþorc) from the sound values of the first six runes. The futhorc was a development from the older co Germanic 24 character runic alphabet, known today as Elder Futhark, expanding to 28 characters in its older form and up to 34 characters in its younger form. In contemporary Scandinavia, the Older Futhark developed into a shorter 16 character alphabet, today simply called Younger Futhark. Use of the Anglo Frisian runes is likely to have started in the 5th century onward and they continued to see use into the High Middle Ages. They were later accompanied and eventually overtaken by the Old English Latin alphabet introduced to Anglo Saxon England by missionaries. Futhorc runes were no longer in common use by the eleventh century, but MS Oxford St John's College 17 indicates that fairly accurate understanding of them persisted into at least the twelfth century.

There are competing theories about the origins of the Anglo Saxon futhorc. One theory proposes that it was developed in Frisia and from there later spread to Britain. Another holds that runes were first introduced to Britain from the mainland where they were then modified and exported to Frisia. Both theories have their inherent weaknesses, and a definitive answer may come from further archaeological evidence. The early futhorc was nearly identical to the Elder Futhark, except for the split of a into three variants āc, æsc and ōs, resulting in 26 runes. This was done to account for the new phoneme produced by the Ingvaeonic split of allophones of long and short a. The earliest known instance of the ōs rune may be from the 5th century, on the Undley bracteate. The earliest known instances of the āc rune may be from the 6th century, appearing on objects such as the Schweindorf solidus. The double barred hægl characteristic of continental inscriptions is first attested as late as 698, on St Cuthbert's coffin; before that, the single barred variant was used. In England, outside of the Brittonic West Country where evidence of Latin and even Ogham continued for several centuries, usage of the futhorc expanded. Runic writing in England became closely associated with the Latin scriptoria from the time of Anglo Saxon Christianization in the 7th century. In some cases, texts would be written in the Latin alphabet, and þorn and ƿynn came to be used as extensions of the Latin alphabet. By the time of the Norman Conquest of 1066 it was very rare, and it disappeared altogether a few centuries thereafter. From at least five centuries of use, fewer than 200 artifacts bearing futhorc inscriptions have survived. Several famous English examples mix runes and Roman script, or Old English and Latin, on the same object, including the Franks Casket and St Cuthbert's coffin; in the latter, three of the names of the Four Evangelists are given in Latin written in runes, but "LUKAS" (Saint Luke) is in Roman script. The coffin is also an example of an object created at the heart of the Anglo Saxon church that uses runes. A leading expert, Raymond Ian Page, rejects the assumption often made in non scholarly literature that runes were especially associated in post conversion Anglo Saxon England with Anglo Saxon paganism or magic.

The letter sequence and letter inventory of futhorc, along with the actual sounds indicated by those letters, could vary depending on location and time. That being so, an authentic and unified list of runes is not possible.

Various runic combinations are found in the futhorc corpus. For example, the sequence ᚫᚪ appears on the Mortain Casket where ᛠ could theoretically have been used. Combination IPA Word Meaning Found on ᚩᛁ /oi/? ]oin[.] (unknown) Lindisfarne Stone II ᚷᚳ [gg]?, [dʒ]? blagcmon (personal name) Maughold Stone I ᚷᚷ ~[dʒ] eggbrect (personal name) (an armband from the Galloway Hoard) ᚻᚹ /ʍ/ gehwelc each Honington Clip ᚻᛋ /ks/ wohs to wax Brandon Antler ᚾᚷ /ŋg/ hring ring Wheatley Hill Silver Gilt Finger Ring ᛁᚷ /ij/ modig proud/bold/arrogant Ruthwell Cross ᛇᛡ? ~/ij/? hælïj? holy? Gandersheim Casket ᛇᛋ /ks/ BennaREïs king Benna (a coin of Beonna of East Anglia) ᛋᚳ /sk/, /ʃ/ fisc fish Franks Casket ᛖᚩ /eo/, /eːo/ eoh (personal name) Kirkheaton Stone ᛖᚷ /ej/ legdun laid Ruthwell Cross ᛖᛇ ~/ej/, [eʝ]? eateïnne (personal name) Thornhill Stone II ᛖᚪ /æɑ/, /æːɑ/ eadbald (personal name) Santi Marcellino e Pietro al Laterano Graffiti ᚪᚢ ~/ɑu/ saule soul Thornhill Stone III ᚪᛁ /ɑi/ aib (personal name) Oostum Comb ᚪᛡ /ɑj/?, /ɑx/? fajhild? faghild? (personal name) Santi Marcellino e Pietro ad Duas Lauros Graffiti ᚫᚢ ~/æu/ dæus deus (Latin) Whitby Comb ᚫᚪ /æɑ/, /æːɑ/ æadan (personal name) Mortain Casket

A rune in Old English could be called a rūnstæf (perhaps meaning something along the lines of "mystery letter" or "whisper letter"), or simply rūn. Futhorc inscriptions hold diverse styles and contents. Ochre has been detected on at least one English runestone, implying its runes were once painted. Bind runes are common in futhorc (relative to its small corpus), and were seemingly used most often to ensure the runes would fit in a limited space. Futhorc logography is attested to in a few manuscripts. This was done by having a rune stand for its name, or a similar sounding word. In the sole extant manuscript of the poem Beowulf, the ēðel rune was used as a logogram for the word ēðel (meaning "homeland", or "estate"). Both the Hackness Stone and Codex Vindobonensis 795 attest to futhorc Cipher runes. In one manuscript (Corpus Christi College, MS 041) a writer seems to have used futhorc runes like Roman numerals, writing ᛉᛁᛁ⁊ᛉᛉᛉᛋᚹᛁᚦᚩᚱ, which likely means "12&30 more". There is some evidence of futhorc rune magic. The possibly magical alu sequence seems to appear on an urn found at Spong Hill in spiegelrunes (runes whose shapes are mirrored). In a tale from Bede's Ecclesiastical History (written in Latin), a man named Imma cannot be bound by his captors and is asked if he is using "litteras solutorias" (loosening letters) to break his binds. In one Old English translation of the passage, Imma is asked if he is using "drycraft" (magic, druidcraft) or "runestaves" to break his binds. Furthermore, futhorc rings have been found with what appear to be enchanted inscriptions for the stanching of blood.