How to pronounce runes
Each rune stands for a sound, and its name usually starts with that sound. Here is what those sounds were, and how the names were said.
Runic alphabets are acrophonic: a rune's sound value is normally the first sound of its name. ᚠ is called fehu and writes /f/. ᚢ is called úr and writes /u/. The principle is how the alphabet works, and it explains one of the odder events in runic history.
The acrophonic principle in action
The Younger Futhark a-rune descends from the Elder Futhark j-rune. Its name was jāra, the Proto-Norse form of Proto-Germanic jēra, and it wrote /j/. When Old Norse lost initial j-, the name became ár, and the rune changed the sound it wrote to /a/, because the alphabet's logic tied value to name. No case shows more clearly that rune names were functional rather than ornamental.
Sounds that need care
| Rune | Transliteration | Sound | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ᚦ | þ | /θ/ or /ð/ | The "th" of thin or of then. The alphabets do not distinguish them until medieval dotting. |
| ᛃ / ᛄ | j | /j/ | The "y" of year, never the "j" of jam. |
| ᚹ | w | /w/ | As in English water. There is no separate /v/ in the older alphabets. |
| ᛜ / ᛝ | ŋ | /ŋ/ | The "ng" of sing, as a single sound. |
| ᛉ | z / ʀ | /z/ → /ʀ/ | A sound between z and r, occurring at word ends, which merged with r during the Viking Age. |
| ᚬ | ą | /ã/ | A nasal vowel, like French an. Old Norse later lost it. |
| ᚷ | g | /ɣ/ or /g/ | Probably a soft fricative between vowels in the early period. |
Saying the rune names
- fehu: FEH-hoo. The Old Norse form fé is "fay", with a long e. The "fyeh" you will sometimes see is the modern Icelandic pronunciation, several centuries younger than the Norse one.
- þurisaz: THOO-ri-saz, with the "th" of thin. Old Norse þurs is "thoors".
- ansuz: AHN-sooz. Old Norse óss is "ohss".
- raido: RYE-though, with a trilled r. Old Norse reið is "rayth".
- algiz: AHL-gizz, though the name itself is a reconstruction and may never have been said aloud by anyone.
- jera: YEH-ra, not "JEH-ra". Old Norse ár is "ahr", with a long open a. The "owr" you will sometimes see is the modern Icelandic vowel, not the Norse one.
- ehwaz: EH-hwaz, cognate with Latin equus.
- othala: OH-tha-la, with the "th" of then.
A caveat about Elder Futhark names
Vowel length
None of the runic alphabets marks vowel length. ᛁ writes both the short i of sit and the long í of seen, and a reader had to work it out. This is one of several reasons transliterated runic text looks strange to modern eyes: it is systematically underspecified.
Questions this guide answers
- How do you pronounce "futhark"?
- FOO-thark, with the "th" of *thin*. The name is simply the sound values of the first six runes read in order: f, u, þ, a, r, k.
- Is it "futhark" or "futhorc"?
- Both, for different alphabets. The Scandinavian alphabets are futharks. The English one is a futhorc, because Old English sound changes turned the fourth and sixth values into o and c.
- Do we know how the runes were actually pronounced?
- Approximately. Sound values are reconstructed from comparative linguistics, from spellings in inscriptions, and from later manuscript evidence. The broad picture is secure; individual details, especially for rare runes, are less so.
Sources
Full references on the sources page. Our methodology explains the evidence labels used throughout.