Writing Norse in Runes: The Basics

[@KerolosAmgad1]

All respect from Egypt ❤❤

[@georgeturner2374]

At least your knowledge of ruins allows you to read most doctors' prescriptions.

[@georgeturner2374]

Oops. Spelling error.

[@Mr.Patrick_Hung]

😅

[@TheCosmicThread11]

Looking forward to the release of the textbook you mentioned. Take care.

[@TheAntiburglar]

As a hopeful future educator of similarly "impractical" information (history and archaeology, though given this channel's demographic I think it's likely those subjects are valued more highly here), I thoroughly enjoy your rants. I feel like I'll be making similar rants at some point in the future, so it's nice to have someone to commiserate with :D

[@PalleRasmussen]

If you are Scandinavian; *do not!* There are no jobs. Pure archeology there is lots of digging.

[@LisaLovesFugglers]

I couldn't be done with family who constantly kept criticising what I did in the job field. Do what you love, what earns a sustain way of living. You're a History teacher, a linguist, etc, so much more. You've done so much, and continue to do much more. I'll be homest, I may not always understand what you put out there, because I don't always "get things", but I think you're incredible :)

[@juliohenriquesilvamaziero9232]

Great learning. Thank you. Happy New year. Greetings from Brazil.

[@AllotmentFox]

Sorry you're having a bad time. Even though you are low we're still listening in, so keep your chin up, chap.

[@makkurokokkuri]

the ability to conjure this info at will is mindnumbing

[@marcodellasanta9089]

❤...thank You, Dr. Crawford... hope there will come more of this!

[@VanaheimrUllr]

I am very happy for your choice of wasting brain power. It has really meant a lot to me, finding and understanding my roots and language. Thank you Drengr Crawford.

[@12Gauge223]

Being a doctor or lawyer are very demanding careers that sometimes can be kind of dirty/immoral and suffocating so I wouldn’t feel too bad about it. I know you like what you do it’s just the financial component that makes it difficult.

[@pedrocacela1885]

It's lawyers that are useless and those who do it are mainly corrupt sociopaths that only want money and power.

[@myuu22]

One thing that I would like to know is how the Old Norse would have distinguished words that sound different but are spelled the same. For example, one of the stories in Norse Mythology had Loki compete in an eating contest with Logi. Because 'K' and 'G' are written with the same Rune, how would Old Norse speakers distinguish between the figures Logi and Loki? BTW, I've been learning a lot from your videos. Keep up the good work. You are a great service to mythology-enthusiasts such as myself.

[@skylark7921]

I would assume the same way English speakers/readers distinguish between words like “permit” (as a noun) and “permit” (as a verb) - just by context? And a lot of the stories were told orally more than they were read, so people could’ve known the basic framework of who does what and filled in the names from there

[@arealisticexpectationpera]

I'm glad. Your choice.

[@AMBERANDERSON-USA]

Yes I could've went to medical school or law school lol 😂 you're perfect, we need to know these things ❤

[@dthephoneme4804]

Under a utilitarian formulation of ethics it is very likely you did more good by starting this channel than you would have done by becoming a doctor. Although as a doctor you could potentially have saved lives (which brings a very large amount of utility to each person you help), by starting this channel you are bring a much smaller average amount of utility, in the form of pleasure and education, to a much larger number of people, and probably for a lower cost to society as well. Thus on net the sum is likely greater and so it is probably ethically optimal that you become an online Old Norse teacher.

[@AllotmentFox]

Blimey, a philosopher. Two ancient arts on one channel

[@Veidr99]

Thank you sir this means alot i know its cringe but really you have been the best source on norse info from a humble schuler i say thank you

[@oakredhammer3854]

KZbin covered your Grimfrost plug with an add from KZbin. Just so you know.

[@earnestwanderer2471]

I worked nights at UPS when I was in college, getting my degree in anthropology and doing a little graduate work in medieval culture and society and eastern religions. I used to think... what if I had studied something useful, like accounting or engineering. Now I think... if I had stayed at UPS and become a driver, like they offered, I would have retired 20 years ago, in my 40’s with a full pension. Roads not taken, I guess.

[@verditelabs6550]

Hey Jackson / Stella, is there any reason in particular you generally write ŷR after dentals, so after Tŷr and Þurs, rather than Reið? It's my understanding that ᚦᛦ and ᛏᛦ became ᚦᚱ and ᛏᚱ fairly early on and that the latter forms more common.

[@michcid6126]

Muy buen video

[@db7213]

So did people back in those days have spelling rules, such that they knew that some words should be spelled using the z rune whereas others should be spelled using the r rune, even when both were pronounced the same? As opposed to everyone spelling everything exactly how they pronounced it.

[@Hurlebatte]

It's my understanding that ᚱ and ᛦ didn't sound the same for most Old Norse speakers around 800 AD.

[@Blockhaj]

a Crawfordian we are

[@JRJohnson1701]

Man, too few letters, and no indication of umlauts. That's gotta be rough to learn though.

[@pierreabbat6157]

The Greeks had the same problem when they wrote in Linear B, before they met Cadmus.

[@NathanKabler]

What are some good resources to learn to speak and write old Norse

[@vegastrina]

I heard "textbook" 😁👍

[@beepboop204]

[@oneukum]

How did they know whence an "e" came? Did they sound differently?

[@AmyDanley-White]

You sound frustrated and burned out. Lawyers and doctors get burned out too. Take care of yourself. Give yourself some personal time out.

[@Hadrada.]

I just don’t under stand why the N would not be before the d or g as how would you know for sure what the word says?

[@jacobandrews2663]

Basically, to their ears, something like "an" would sound very similar to something like "ã", that is, a nasal vowel. So it would seem redundant. Think of it like writing say, London as Lõdõ, with two nasal Os.

[@Hadrada.]

@@jacobandrews2663 ok thanks So really the n sound probably was not used much

[@LucasSchimmel]

How do languages adopt scripts and just change them completely? Why the slavic languages required a whole new script instead of just modifying greek? Why would the Norse simplify their script so much? What would be the modifications for a language to adopt a new script, imagine Old High German was written in Germanic runes instead of Latin script?

[@oneukum]

Cyrillic is derived from Greek. That is still visible. Do you mean glagolitic?

[@LucasSchimmel]

@@oneukum Cyrillic is derived from Greek but was intentionally designed by Cyril and Methodius to suit the Bulgarian empire.

[@robertoboehler-blumenau-sc8818]

u looks much older than your age.

[@PalleRasmussen]

Who is that guy imitating Jackson Crawford's voice and teaching, and why did he neglect the trademark Stetson? He is giving away his con.

[@Johan-vk5yd]

A stetson would have to be tied down over ones sides of the head, to prevent the ears to be bitten off by frost. A worse look.

[@Johan-vk5yd]

I guess beautiful Colorado is too cold not to cover your ears now. It can be be done with a stetson, and a scarf but…. that look is not as elegant as a knitted cap. IMO.

[@PalleRasmussen]

@@Johan-vk5yd I lived in Greenland for three years. Down to about -5 a boonie sufficed, depending on wind.

[@alekzi4032]

I often can't decide between ᚢ and ᚬ, for example in names like Tore, Torsten or Torkel, looking up real attestations often returns a big bunch of both spellings. Also with that final r in a name likeTore/Þórir, find it may also in practice just pop up such a bunch of both attestations ending with either ᚱ or ᛦ.

[@marrlfox]

As always a very inspiring video, Prof Crawford 👍👍 I have a question and am struggling to find a pIatform to ask it. In the latest God of War Ragnarok DLC "Valhalla", an inscription above a gate reads "ᚱᚨᛞᚨ ᛊᛃᚨᛚᚠᚱ ᛊᛁᚾᚢᛗ ᚺᚨᛏᛏᚢᛗ" (rada sjalfr sinum hattum). The game characters state it means "To be one's own master - master thyself", which they even admit is "poetic". What I would like to know, please - are the words written correctly in the game, and if so, what would this actually mean? I suspect double-letters were not used?

[@jacobandrews2663]

Hey Marr, in short, no it isn't correct. In fact, all of the game's inscriptions make the same mistake in that they use the Elder Futhark script for an old-sounding-yet-unequivocally-modern Icelandic. Dr. Crawford has lots of videos that go into detail regarding the scripts and the timeperiods and languages they were used for, but in a nutshell, you have to make a choice: If you want write in Elder futhark you are going to have to translate the phrase into Proto-Norse (or even Proto-Germanic), if however you want to use Younger futhark, i.e., the script used during the viking age (8th - 11th century) you'll have to translate it into Old Norse, or If you want to use modern Icelandic then I'd recommend using medieval runes instead, or alternatively, you could translate the phrase into Old English and then use the Anglo-Saxon futhorc instead. My advice, considering the fact that the game's story takes place around the time of the ancient Spartan kingdom, I'd recommend going with the first option of translating the phrase into Proto-Germanic and then transliterate it into the Elder Futhark. Have a happy new year 🍺

[@marrlfox]

@@jacobandrews2663 Brilliant, thank you so much for taking the time for your very informative reply, I appreciate it 🙏 I admit that although having been interested in the viking culture for a long time, the GoW games got me interested in the runic alphabets (but I am no expert). My current objective is to find runic inscriptions for tattoos for both my lower arms, but not just transliteral English-Old Norse (can be either Elder or Younger Futhark, although I like - if I can say that - the aesthetic of Elder Futhark more). When I saw the inscription in the game, I was hoping they got it right that time round. Alas! Do you happen to have a good suggestion for meaningful passages of text from an old script maybe that could be useful for such tattoos? If I get this, I want to get it right - I have bands of runes around my forearms in mind.

[@saxebbel1986]

I have seen things like a dot being added to ᚴ to signify a g sound. I've also seen it added to ᚢ, but that has so many sounds it can make. What is it likely the carver might be indicating here?