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b'Over the past few years, listeners have often asked us to do something with runes. \\xa0And who doesn\'t love runes? \\xa0Whether it\'s a fascination with the runic inscription as a point of contact with another time or a sense that the runes\\xa0themselves are more than a mere phonetic symbol, there\'s something magical about them. \\xa0Even the word, r\\xfanar carries with it layers of meaning, at times denoting "secret, hidden lore, or wisdom" and others referring to the written characters themselves. \\xa0In this Saga Brief, John and Andy investigate the history, forms, and functions of runes with the help of\\xa0Dr. Ragnhild Ljosland, linguist and runologist from the University of the Highlands and Islands\' Centre for Nordic Studies in Orkney. \\xa0\\nWhile you may think of runes as the alphabet of the Vikings, it\'s important to remember that runes\\xa0come in many different forms and date back at least to the 2nd century CE. \\xa0In fact, some point to the inscription on the controversial Meldorf fibula, a kind of brooch for pinning clothes, as evidence of runic writing in the early 1st century. \\xa0\\n\\nThe Meldorf Fibula\\nThe runic alphabet most of you will be familiar with is the futhark, named for the first six letters of the alphabet. \\xa0With some minor variation, depending on region and date, the futhark was used by Germanic peoples throughout the early to late Middle Ages. \\xa0This alphabet was designed for cutting or carving simple strokes into wood, leather, bone, metal, and stone. \\xa0Each letter is drawn by combining verticle strokes (staves) and diagonal protrusions (branches). \\xa0In the pre-Viking era, the dominant form of the futhark consisted of 24 letters representing the particular sounds of early Germanic languages. \\xa0\\n\\nThe Elder Futhark\\nThe opening of the Viking Age saw the emergence of a simplified 16 character alphabet, known as the younger futhark. \\xa0Like its predecessor, the younger futhark\'s exact look was largely determined by the region. \\xa0On the top here, you can see the long-branch (Danish) version of the younger futhark. \\xa0The second row features the short-twig runic alphabet, a variant most often linked to Sweden and Norway. \\xa0The short-twig variant is obviously much easier to carve than the\\xa0long-branch.\\n\\nThe Younger Futhark\\nWherever the Germanic and Scandinavian people went from the 2nd century to the early modern period, they left traces of their presence in the form of runic inscriptions on monuments, artifacts like jewelry, tools, and weapons, and other everyday materials. \\xa0While the majority of their efforts have been lost, more than 6,000 items with runic inscriptions of one form or another survive. \\xa0Most of these are from the period of the younger futhark. \\xa0Below you\'ll find a sampling of some of the items we reference in this episode.\\n\\n"Alu" inscription on Bracteate G 205 (ca. 400CE)\\n\\nThe Ribe Skull Fragment (mid-8th century)\\nWe don\'t mention this example, but it\'s worth including here. \\xa0On the top floor of the southern gallery of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul there is a parapet with a faded runic inscription dated to the 9th century featuring the name of the carver, Halfdan. \\xa0John and I love to talk about the Varangian Guard, the Byzantine Emperors\' personal bodyguards. \\xa0We\'d like to imagine that Halfdan was a member of this elite unit. \\xa0The plaque above the inscription suggests a date in the 800s, but don\'t believe everything you read.\\xa0\\n\\xa0\\nThe Halfdan Runic Graffiti in the Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey\\xa0\\nNear the end of the interview, we discuss ciphers. \\xa0Really clever rune masters sometimes used these ciphers or cryptics to disguise their messages. \\xa0The cryptic runes replace the letter with a picture containing a series of carefully plotted strokes. \\xa0The simplest of these is the tree or branch runes, which can be seen on this image of the Hackness Cross:\\n\\nThe Hackness Cross from Hackness, Scarborough, North Yorkshire\\nThere are tent cryptics, fish cryptics, and many others, but our favorite is the bearded face cryptic from a runic stick'