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/. This is not a decorative fact: it 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 quietly changed the sound it wrote to /a/, because the alphabet's logic tied value to name.
That is the single clearest demonstration that rune names were functional rather than ornamental. Change the name and you change the letter.
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.