What are runes? (translation, Christianity, Christian, Christ, christianity)

[Rex]

I understand they are some sort of symbols?

But what are they and what do they do?

[Runt]

"Runes are an alphabetic script used by the peoples of Northern Europe from the first century c.e. until well into the Middle Ages. In addition to their use as a written alphabet, the runes also served as a system of symbols used for magic and divination...Today, runes have been rediscovered as a symbolic system and have gained immense popularity as a means of divination." --http://www.tarahill.com/runes/

I personally don't know much about them, but they are basically another divination tool. They are usually inscribed on small (1.5 cm) pieces of wood or bone. When doing a reading, a witch will usually have the person he/she is reading for chose X number of runes randomly from a pouch, at which point the witch will interpret them based on the order they were chosen and the meaning of each symbol individually and in combination. (I have a cousin who once did a rune reading for a friend in my presence, so that's all I know. :P)

[painted wolf]

writing has often been thought of as having magic in itself... Futhark.. the most common rune set is both a way of conveying information and a way to convey magic...

The Egyptions also believed in the magic of writing... so much that in later dynasties they purposely broke up heiroglyphics so that the dangerous images (like snakes) wouldn't come to life and kill the reader. mg:

wa:-do

[Runt]

That's right... the Egyptian name of their writing system translated literally as "God's Words"... you had a flag (which translated as "god"), a stick (which translated as "language") and a broken vertical line (which indicated the plural), giving you "God's Words" or Hieroglyphics.

Pierre Lacau wrote, "For the Egyptians, every image is a living being, an active reality that enjoys both magical power and its own. And all of the signs in hieroglyphics are pictures. As letters, they have a sound value, but because they retain their precise and defined form, they also retain the power of their image."

And Christian Jacq wrote in Fascinating Hieroglyphics, "The Egyptians were so convinced of the power of the hieroglyphs that, in some texts, they cut lions and snakes in half to keep them from causing harm, or held reptiles to the ground with knives."

Also by the same guy, "To the Egyptians, only the written word ensured immortality."

Sorry if that seemed like a lot of quotes... I went through a little Egyptian "phase" (*cough*obsession!*cough*) when I was younger and although I have "moved on", I still find it all so fascinating!

[Runt]

That's right... the Egyptian name of their writing system translated literally as "God's Words"... you had a flag (which translated as "god"), a stick (which translated as "language") and a broken vertical line (which indicated the plural), giving you "God's Words" or Hieroglyphics.

Pierre Lacau wrote, "For the Egyptians, every image is a living being, an active reality that enjoys both magical power and its own. And all of the signs in hieroglyphics are pictures. As letters, they have a sound value, but because they retain their precise and defined form, they also retain the power of their image."

And Christian Jacq wrote in Fascinating Hieroglyphics, "The Egyptians were so convinced of the power of the hieroglyphs that, in some texts, they cut lions and snakes in half to keep them from causing harm, or held reptiles to the ground with knives."

Also by the same guy, "To the Egyptians, only the written word ensured immortality."

Sorry if that seemed like a lot of quotes... I went through a little Egyptian "phase" (*cough*obsession!*cough*) when I was younger and although I have "moved on", I still find it all so fascinating!

[anders]

The meaning of the term ”Rune” is derived from the old Germanic root ru- and the Gothic Runa, ‎meaning ”mystery”, ”secret”. It originally indicated an ancient script, which may be considered ‎as the national writing of the pre-Christian Germanic tribes. Runes in limited use lingered on for ‎a long time after the introduction of Christianity, and their use for charms and memorial ‎inscriptions lasted into the sixteenth century, and in some outlying Swedish regions down to our ‎own times. Teutons attributes magic powers to the mysterious written symbols, and that may ‎have been the reason for the origin of the name.‎

Some 4000 runic inscriptions have been traced, and among the oldest is one from Østfold in ‎Norway, dating about 400 CE. Other inscriptions occur on rings, medals and blades of swords, ‎but there is no evidence of runes being used in very early times, although scholars hold that runes ‎were widely employed in all kinds of secular documents.‎

That was from the cover of a book on runes. I would like to add that the angular forms makes it ‎very clear that the runes were shaped for carving in wood, but wood rots, and most runes still left ‎are carved in stone or bone, or scratched on metal. Very few wooden items have remained. In ‎Norway, a couple of wooden sticks have been found, with texts like ”I love that man’s woman so ‎much, that fire seems cold to me” and ”Gyda tells you to go home”. ‎

In many, perhaps most, cultures, writing was considered to have magic qualities. It is not ‎surprising that runes as well as hieroglyphs have been regarded as having magical properties.‎

Regarding the name “hieroglyphs”, I don’t believe that this is an Egyptian name. Until I see proof ‎of another theory, I believe that the name was invented by the Greek, long after the writing ‎system had been forgotten. I guess that Runt’s description is a back-translation from the ‎European name into hieroglyphs.‎

[anders]

The meaning of the term ”Rune” is derived from the old Germanic root ru- and the Gothic Runa, ‎meaning ”mystery”, ”secret”. It originally indicated an ancient script, which may be considered ‎as the national writing of the pre-Christian Germanic tribes. Runes in limited use lingered on for ‎a long time after the introduction of Christianity, and their use for charms and memorial ‎inscriptions lasted into the sixteenth century, and in some outlying Swedish regions down to our ‎own times. Teutons attributes magic powers to the mysterious written symbols, and that may ‎have been the reason for the origin of the name.‎

Some 4000 runic inscriptions have been traced, and among the oldest is one from Østfold in ‎Norway, dating about 400 CE. Other inscriptions occur on rings, medals and blades of swords, ‎but there is no evidence of runes being used in very early times, although scholars hold that runes ‎were widely employed in all kinds of secular documents.‎

That was from the cover of a book on runes. I would like to add that the angular forms makes it ‎very clear that the runes were shaped for carving in wood, but wood rots, and most runes still left ‎are carved in stone or bone, or scratched on metal. Very few wooden items have remained. In ‎Norway, a couple of wooden sticks have been found, with texts like ”I love that man’s woman so ‎much, that fire seems cold to me” and ”Gyda tells you to go home”. ‎

In many, perhaps most, cultures, writing was considered to have magic qualities. It is not ‎surprising that runes as well as hieroglyphs have been regarded as having magical properties.‎

Regarding the name “hieroglyphs”, I don’t believe that this is an Egyptian name. Until I see proof ‎of another theory, I believe that the name was invented by the Greek, long after the writing ‎system had been forgotten. I guess that Runt’s description is a back-translation from the ‎European name into hieroglyphs.‎

[Runt]

Regarding the name “hieroglyphs”, I don’t believe that this is an Egyptian name. Until I see proof ‎of another theory, I believe that the name was invented by the Greek, long after the writing ‎system had been forgotten. I guess that Runt’s description is a back-translation from the ‎European name into hieroglyphs.‎

Right. Hieroglyphs was the name that Greeks gave to the Egyptian writing. The Egyptians called this written system "medoo neter", which translates literally as "God's Words".

How do you get that? The hieroglyphics used to indicate the written language were a flag, followed by a stick, followed by a broken vertical line. The flag stood for the concept "God" and has the sound values "N + T + R" (Egyptians rarely used vowels) or "neter". The stick stood for the concept "word" and had the sound values "M+D+OO" or "medoo". The broken vertical line indicated the plural and in this case had no sound value (though in English you get that nice "s" to indicate the plural), making the full translation: "God's words" rather than "God's word".

Just like the Egyptians obviously didn't call their written language "hieroglyphics", so they also did not call their ruler "pharoh". They had many names that meant "pharoh", and NONE of them were "PHAROH". They called him "Hem", which translates literally as "the servant" and is indicated by a picket hieroglyph, or "Per AA", which translates as "Big House" (which I guess could account for the Greek word "pharoh") and is indicated by the outline of a house and a column, or "Ny Soot" (which translates as "He who belongs to the reed") and is indicated by a reed and a clump of symbols giving the phonetic value "soot", or "Bit" ("he of the bee") indicated by a bee.

A pyramid was called "mer". Egypt as a whole was called "Taooy" (which literally meant "The Two Earths" or "The Double Country") and the desert part of Egypt was called "Khaset" ("The foreign country" or "the desert region") and the fertile part along the Nile was called "Kemet" ("The black country" or "the fertile country").

*cough* Like I said, I love Ancient Egypt. Can you tell? :P

[Runt]

Regarding the name “hieroglyphs”, I don’t believe that this is an Egyptian name. Until I see proof ‎of another theory, I believe that the name was invented by the Greek, long after the writing ‎system had been forgotten. I guess that Runt’s description is a back-translation from the ‎European name into hieroglyphs.‎

Right. Hieroglyphs was the name that Greeks gave to the Egyptian writing. The Egyptians called this written system "medoo neter", which translates literally as "God's Words".

How do you get that? The hieroglyphics used to indicate the written language were a flag, followed by a stick, followed by a broken vertical line. The flag stood for the concept "God" and has the sound values "N + T + R" (Egyptians rarely used vowels) or "neter". The stick stood for the concept "word" and had the sound values "M+D+OO" or "medoo". The broken vertical line indicated the plural and in this case had no sound value (though in English you get that nice "s" to indicate the plural), making the full translation: "God's words" rather than "God's word".

Just like the Egyptians obviously didn't call their written language "hieroglyphics", so they also did not call their ruler "pharoh". They had many names that meant "pharoh", and NONE of them were "PHAROH". They called him "Hem", which translates literally as "the servant" and is indicated by a picket hieroglyph, or "Per AA", which translates as "Big House" (which I guess could account for the Greek word "pharoh") and is indicated by the outline of a house and a column, or "Ny Soot" (which translates as "He who belongs to the reed") and is indicated by a reed and a clump of symbols giving the phonetic value "soot", or "Bit" ("he of the bee") indicated by a bee.

A pyramid was called "mer". Egypt as a whole was called "Taooy" (which literally meant "The Two Earths" or "The Double Country") and the desert part of Egypt was called "Khaset" ("The foreign country" or "the desert region") and the fertile part along the Nile was called "Kemet" ("The black country" or "the fertile country").

*cough* Like I said, I love Ancient Egypt. Can you tell? :P

[anders]

Runt,

Your post rang a very distant bell. More than 30 years ago, I hoped that my (then) wife and myself would be able to learn the "divine speech", so we got together some material. I copied a few hieroglyphs and pasted them on a binder. I still have it, and recognised the left-pointing triangular flag on a staff and the broken line from your description. In my writing, there is also a chicken? and a man, holding his hand to his mouth, indicating speech. The extra signs may be determinatives