ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ: ᚫᛝᛚᚩ-ᛋᚫᛉᚢᚾ᛫ᚱᚣᚾᛁᚳ᛫ᚳᛁᛁᛒᚩᚱᛞ

Futhorc: Anglo-Saxon runic keyboard

Harys Dalvi | ᚻᚪᚱᛁᛋ ᛞᚪᛚᚠᛁ

ᚻᚪᚹ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᚱᛡᛏ᛫ᛁᚾ᛫ᚱᚣᚾᛋ

How to Write in Runes

I have a system of using these runes to write my dialect of American English. Of course, if you have a different dialect, or just like runes, you might prefer to use the keyboard differently. This is just one possible system which is more phonetic than standard English spelling.

First of all, forget everything you know about English spelling. My system of Runic spelling is (mostly) phonetic, unlike J. R. R. Tolkien's system, which mostly substitutes the non-phonetic English spelling system letter by letter. There are a few exceptions to this phonetic system, which I will explain later. First, here is a basic guide to writing modern English in my system of runes. I have included the sounds of American English as I speak it in IPA (the international phonetic alphabet), plus an example of this sound in a word, and finally the rune to represent that sound. I start with pure vowels, then diphthongs, and finally consonants. There is no distinction for vowel length.

You may have noticed that some runes stand for more than one sound. There are a few other possible ambiguities. Here are some rules to clear that up.

1. Apostrophes and punctuation are used just like in standard English.
2. /i/ at the end of a word or before an apostrophe is simply ᛁ. So you have we'll/ᚹᛁ'ᛚ, will/ᚹᛁᛚ, wheel/ᚹᛁᛁᛚ. This applies to morphemes too: you have any/ᛖᚾᛁ, anything/ᛖᚾᛁᚦᛁᛝ. Also note that ᛁᛁ may represent /iɪ/ as in being/ᛒᛁᛁᛝ.
3. If there is ambiguity between /f/ and /v/, use ᚠᚠ for /f/ and ᚠ for /v/. So you have live/ᛚᛁᚠ, leave/ᛚᛁᛁᚠ, leaf/ᛚᛁᛁᚠᚠ, lives/ᛚᛁᚠᛋ, leaves/ᛚᛁᛁᚠᛋ. Note that rules apply in the order they are listed here in case of a conflict.
4. There is similar ambiguity clarification as above for /s/ (ᛋᛋ) and /z/ (ᛋ), So you have ones/ᚹᚢᚾᛋ, once/ᚹᚢᚾᛋᛋ
5. "No" is spelled ᚾᚩ and "know" is spelled ᚾᚩᚹ.
6. Words which use "tr" for /tʃɹ/ in standard English are spelled with ᛏᚱ, not ᚳᚻᚱ. Similar for "dr"/ᛞᚱ and /dʒɹ/; "x"/ᛉ and /ks/. So you have truck/ᛏᚱᚢᚳ, draw/ᛞᚱᛟ, tax/ᛏᚫᛉ, racks/ᚱᚫᚳᛋ.
7. Word-final /ə/ is written ᚪ. So you have comma/ᚳᛟᛗᚪ (not ᚳᛟᛗᚢ), vanilla/ᚠᚢᚾᛁᛚᚪ. Exception: the/ᚦᛖ.
8. Syllabic consonants are spelled with ᚢ before the consonant. So you have bottle/ᛒᛟᛏᚢᛚ.
9. ᛋ and ᛏ are optionally written together as the ligature ᛥ as in stone/ᛥᚩᚾ. Likewise for ᚳᚹ becoming ᛢ.
10. The name of this alphabet is written ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ, but pronounced /fuθork/ like "FOO-thork" as if it were spelled ᚠᚣᚦᚩᚱᚳ.

If you'd like to contribute to this keyboard, or just check out the source code, the GitHub is at crackalamoo/futhorc.

ᛋᚫᛗᛈᚢᛚ᛫ᚠᚱᛟᛗ᛫ᚹᛁᛚᛄᚢᛗ᛫ᛋᚻᛠᚳᛋᛈᛁᛁᚱ

Sample from William Shakespeare

ᛏᚣ᛫ᛒᛁ, ᚪᚱ᛫ᚾᛟᛏ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛒᛁ, ᚦᚫᛏ᛫ᛁᛋ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᚳᚹᛖᛋᚳᚻᚢᚾ:
ᚹᛖᚦᚢᚱ᛫'ᛏᛁᛋ᛫ᚾᚩᛒᛚᚢᚱ᛫ᛁᚾ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᛗᛡᚾᛞ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᚢᚠᚢᚱ
ᚦᛖ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛝᛋ᛫ᚫᚾᛞ᛫ᚫᚱᚩᛋ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᚪᚹᛏᚱᛠᚷᚻᚢᛋ᛫ᚠᚩᚱᚳᚻᚢᚾ,
ᚪᚱ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛏᛠᚳ᛫ᚪᚱᛗᛋ᛫ᚢᚷᛖᚾᛥ᛫ᚢ᛫ᛋᛁ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᛏᚱᚢᛒᚢᛚᛋ,
ᚫᚾᛞ᛫ᛒᛡ᛫ᚢᛈᚩᛋᛁᛝ᛫ᛖᚾᛞ᛫ᚦᛖᛗ: ᛏᚣ᛫ᛞᛡ, ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ
ᚾᚩ᛫ᛗᚩᚱ; ᚫᚾᛞ᛫ᛒᛡ᛫ᚢ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ, ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᛠ᛫ᚹᛁ᛫ᛖᚾᛞ
ᚦᛖ᛫ᚻᚪᚱᛏ-ᛠᚳ, ᚫᚾᛞ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᚦᚪᚹᛋᚢᚾᛞ᛫ᚾᚫᚳᚻᚢᚱᚢᛚ᛫ᛋᚻᛟᚳᛋ
ᚦᚫᛏ᛫ᚠᛚᛖᛋᚻ᛫ᛁᛋ᛫ᛠᚱ᛫ᛏᚣ? 'ᛏᛁᛋ᛫ᚢ᛫ᚳᛟᚾᛋᚢᛗᛠᛋᚻᚢᚾ
ᛞᚢᚠᚪᚹᛏᛚᛁ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛒᛁ᛫ᚹᛁᛋᚻᛞ. ᛏᚣ᛫ᛞᛡ, ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ,
ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ, ᛈᚢᚱᚳᚫᚾᛋ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛞᚱᛁᛁᛗ; ᛡ, ᚦᛠᚱ'ᛋ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᚱᚢᛒ,
ᚠᚪᚱ᛫ᛁᚾ᛫ᚦᚫᛏ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᛞᛖᚦ᛫ᚹᚢᛏ᛫ᛞᚱᛁᛁᛗᛋ᛫ᛗᛠ᛫ᚳᚢᛗ,
ᚹᛖᚾ᛫ᚹᛁ᛫ᚻᚫᚠ᛫ᛋᚻᚢᚠᚢᛚᛞ᛫ᛟᚠᚠ᛫ᚦᛁᛋ᛫ᛗᚪᚱᛏᚢᛚ᛫ᚳᚩᛁᛚ,
ᛗᚢᛥ᛫ᚷᛁᚠ᛫ᚢᛋ᛫ᛈᛟᛋ.

ᛋᚫᛗᛈᚢᛚ᛫ᚠᚱᛟᛗ᛫ᛖᛗᚪ᛫ᛚᚫᛋᚢᚱᚢᛋ

Sample from Emma Lazarus

“ᚳᛁᛁᛈ, ᛠᚾᛋᚻᚢᚾᛏ᛫ᛚᚫᚾᛞᛋ, ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᛥᚩᚱᛁᛞ᛫ᛈᛟᛗᛈ!” ᚳᚱᛡᛋ᛫ᛋᚻᛁ
ᚹᛁᚦ᛫ᛋᛡᛚᚢᚾᛏ᛫ᛚᛁᛈᛋ. “ᚷᛁᚠ᛫ᛗᛁ᛫ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᛏᛡᚢᚱᛞ, ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᛈᚣᚱ,
ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᚻᚢᛞᚢᛚᛞ᛫ᛗᚫᛋᚢᛋ᛫ᛄᚢᚱᚾᛁᛝ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛒᚱᛁᛁᚦ᛫ᚠᚱᛁ,
ᚦᛖ᛫ᚱᛖᚳᚻᚢᛞ᛫ᚱᛖᚠᛄᚣᛋ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᛏᛁᛁᛗᛁᛝ᛫ᛋᚻᚪᚱ.
ᛋᛖᚾᛞ᛫ᚦᛁᛁᛋ, ᚦᛖ᛫ᚻᚩᛗᛚᛖᛋ, ᛏᛖᛗᛈᛖᛥ-ᛏᛟᛋᛏ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛗᛁ,
ᛡ᛫ᛚᛁᚠᛏ᛫ᛗᛡ᛫ᛚᚫᛗᛈ᛫ᛒᚢᛋᛡᛞ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᚷᚩᛚᛞᚢᚾ᛫ᛞᚩᚱ!”

ᛗᛡ᛫ᛗᛟᛞᚢᚱᚾ᛫ᛁᛝᛚᛁᛋᚻ᛫ᚱᚣᚾ᛫ᚾᛠᛗᛋ

My Modern English Rune Names