The Development of the Germanic Script

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE

CHERNIVTSI YURII FEDKOVYCH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

College of Modern European Languages

Department of English

Essay:

The Development of the Germanic Script

Irina Borovik

3^rd-year student

Group #314

Chernivtsi – 2010

Content

1.  Introduction

2.  Runic Inscriptions

2.1 Characteristics

2.2 Types of runic inscriptions

2.3 Written records

3.  Ulfila`s Gothic alphabet

4.  Latin alphabet

4.1 General information

4.2 Written records

5.  Conclusion

6.  Sources

1. Introduction

When we speak about written language of germanic tribes, we mean, firstly, alphabets, which used those tribes; secondly, the main written records [1, 22]. An alphabet is a standardized set of letters – basic written symbols – each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past. There are other systems, such as logographies, in which each character represents a word, morpheme, or semanic unit, and syllabaries, in which each character represents a syllable [3, 22].

The Germans, while creating their written records, used three different alphabets, which chronically changed each other [1, 22].

2. Runic Inscriptions

2.1 Characteristics

The records of Old English writing embrace a variety of matter: they are dated in different centuries, represent various dialects, belong to diverse genres and are written in different scripts. The earliest written records of English are inscriptions on hard material made in a special alphabet known as the runes. The word rune originally meant “secret”, “mystery” and hence came to denote inscriptions believed to be magic. Later the word “rune” was applied to the characters used in writing these inscriptions.

There is no doubt that the art of runic writing was known to the Germanic tribes long before they came to Britain, since runic inscriptions have also been found in Scandinavia. The runes were used as letters, each symbol to indicate a separate sound [2, 63]. This principle, however, was not always observed, even at the earliest stages of phonetic spelling. Some OE letters indicated two or more sounds, even distinct phonemes. The letters could indicate short and long sounds [4].

The runic alphabet is a specifically Germanic alphabet, not to be found in languages of other groups. Runic letters are angular; straight lines are preferred, curved lines avoided; this is due to the fact that runic inscriptions were cut in hard material: stone, bone or wood. The shapes of some letters resemble those of Greek or Latin, other have not been traced to any known alphabet, and the order of the runes in the alphabet is certainly original. To this day the origin of the runes is a matter of conjecture [2, 64].

The number of runes in different OG languages varied. As compared to continental, the number of runes in England was larger: new runes were added as new sounds appeared in English (from 28 to 33 runes in Britain against 16 or 24 on the continent). The main use of runes was to make short inscriptions on objects, often to bestow on them some special power or magic.

The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages prior to the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter. The Scandinavian variants are also known as futhark (or fuþark, derived from their first six letters of the alphabet: F, U, Þ, A, R, and K); the Anglo-Saxon variant is futhorc (due to sound changes undergone in Old English by the same six letters). Runology is the study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions, runestones, and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics.

The earliest runic inscriptions date from around 150 AD, and the characters was generally replaced by the Latin alphabet along with Christianization by around 700 AD in central Europe and by around 1100 AD in Northern Europe; however, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes in Northern Europe, longest in rural Sweden until the early twentieth century (used mainly for decoration as runes in Dalarna and on Runic calendars).

The three best-known runic alphabets are the Elder Futhark (around 150 to 800 AD), the Old English Futhorc (400 to 1100 AD), and the Younger Futhark (800–1100). The Younger Futhark is further divided into the long-branch runes (also called Danish, although they were also used in Norway and Sweden), short-branch or Rök runes (also called Swedish-Norwegian, although they were also used in Denmark), and the stavesyle or Hälsinge runes (staveless runes). The Younger Futhark developed further into the Marcomannic runes, the Medieval runes (1100 AD to 1500 AD), and the Dalecarlian runes (around 1500 to 1800 AD).