The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages. The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into three branches: Ingvaeonic, which includes English and Frisian; Istvaeonic, which encompasses Dutch and its close relatives; and Irminonic, which includes German and its close relatives and variants.
A rune is a letter in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write Germanic languages before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised purposes thereafter. In addition to representing a sound value, runes can be used to represent the concepts after which they are named (ideographs). Scholars refer to instances of the latter as Begriffsrunen. The Scandinavian variants are also known as futhark or fuþark ; the Anglo-Saxon variant is futhorc or fuþorc.
ᛈ is the rune denoting the sound p in the Elder Futhark runic alphabet. It does not appear in the Younger Futhark. It is named peorð in the Anglo-Saxon rune-poem and glossed enigmatically as follows:
The Elder Futhark, also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Period. Inscriptions are found on artifacts including jewelry, amulets, plateware, tools, and weapons, as well as runestones in Scandinavia, from the 2nd to the 10th centuries.
Algiz is the name conventionally given to the "z-rune" ᛉ of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet. Its transliteration is z, understood as a phoneme of the Proto-Germanic language, the terminal *z continuing Proto-Indo-European terminal *s.
The Kylver stone, listed in the Rundata catalog as runic inscription G 88, is a Swedish runestone which dates from about 400 AD. It is notable for its listing of each of the runes in the Elder Futhark.
*Haglaz or *Hagalaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the h-rune ᚺ, meaning "hail".
Anglo-Saxon runes are runes used by the early Anglo-Saxons as an alphabet in their writing system. Today, the characters are known collectively as the futhorc from the sound values of the first six runes. The futhorc was a development from the 24-character Elder Futhark. Since futhorc also recorded Old Frisian along with Old English, the term Anglo-Frisian runes is also used. They were likely to have been used from the 5th century onward.
Capreolus is a genus of deer, the roe deer.
A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of Elder Futhark, Anglo-Frisian Futhorc and Younger Futhark.
Spong Hill is an Anglo-Saxon cemetery site located south of North Elmham in Norfolk, England. It is the largest known Early Anglo-Saxon cremation site. The site consists of a large cremation cemetery and a smaller, 6th-century burial cemetery of 57 inhumations. Several of the inhumation graves were covered by small barrows and others were marked by the use of coffins.
The Westeremden yew-stick is a yew-wood stick found in Westeremden in the Groningen province of the Netherlands in 1917. It bears an Old Frisian runic inscription, dated to the second half of the 8th century. With a total of 41 letters, this is the longest of the extant Frisian runic inscriptions.
The Kleines Schulerloch inscription is the runic inscription of debated authenticity discovered in the Kleines Schulerloch cave that was found in 1937, Altmühl valley was not noticed until the 1950s. It reads
The Meldorf fibula is a Germanic spring-case-type fibula found in Meldorf, Schleswig-Holstein in 1979. Though the exact circumstances of the recovery of the fibula are unknown, it is thought to have come from a cremation grave, probably that of a woman. On typological grounds it has been dated to first half of the 1st century CE, and possibly bears the oldest runic inscription found to date.
Sowilo (*sōwilō), meaning "sun", is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic language name of the s-rune.
The Frei-Laubersheim fibula is a silver-gilt bow-style fibula found in Frei-Laubersheim, Bad Kreuznach (Rhineland-Palatinate) in 1872. The grave in which it was found dates to approximately the 6th century, and was that of a presumably Frankish woman. The fibula is one of a pair, and bears a runic inscription in the Elder Futhark.
The Harford Farm Brooch is a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon disk brooch. The brooch was originally made in Kent and was found along with a number of other artifacts during an excavation of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Harford Farm in Norfolk. The brooch measures 72 millimetres (2.8 in) across and was found in grave 11. The front of the brooch is gold decorated with glass and garnets while the backplate is silver. On the back of the brooch there is a runic inscription reading "ᛚᚢᛞᚪ:ᚷᛁᛒᛟᛏᚫᛋᛁᚷᛁᛚᚫ" (luda:gibœtæsigilæ), which Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service translates as “Luda repaired the brooch”; however “may Luda make amends by means of the brooch” has been offered as a translation by Alfred Bammesberger in the journal Neophilologus. In addition to the runes, the back of the brooch also has a scratched zoomorphic decoration.
René Lodewijk Maurits Derolez was a Belgian philologist who was Professor of English and Germanic Philology at Ghent University. He specialized in runology and the study of Old English literature and Germanic religion.
Alfred Bammesberger is Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Linguistics at the Catholic University of Eichstätt.
