At 11:39:35 AM on Sunday, July 15, 2012, redthorian wrote:

> I have been following your group for awhile now. I am no
> where up to your speed or level in this language. The
> request is for translation if possible, I have seen on the
> associated website work with the runes. I have an English
> sound translation of runes but I was hoping for something
> more accurate than that for translating some names.

> Reason for this translation is a viking recreation event
> where my wife and I are renewing our vows in a viking
> recreation wedding (using a sword exchange). I am
> reworking two swords for this event and have come up with
> the idea of putting names on the swords. I am not sure if
> this translation to runic can be done but if anyone here
> has an idea of how to translate or where to find an
> accurate translation of names into runic I would
> appreciate all help given.

> The names are;
> Konur
> Thwing (pronounce Th as in Thomas)
> Red Thorian

Runes are a writing system, not a language, so you can't
hope for anything more than a representation of the sounds.

Of the names in question, only the first actually
corresponds to something in Old Icelandic: <konur> is the
nominative plural of <kona> 'woman; wife'. If you use the
futhark (runic alphabet) labelled NORWEGIAN-DANISH RUNES
FROM THE 800'S at <http://www.arild-hauge.com/enruner.htm>,
which is a pretty typical one for the Viking period, you
want the runes labelled <kunur>.

<Thwing> is in origin an English place-name; it derives
either from Old Northumbrian <thweng> 'a thong, a strap' or
from Old Norse <þvengr> 'a shoelace, a thong', used in a
topographical sense, perhaps in this case referring to a
narrow, dry valley near Thwing. The Old Norse word in the
dative and accusative cases, which are the ones most likely
to occur when a place-name is part of a personal name, is
<þveng>; for this you would use the runes labelled <þuink>.
However, the Old Norse word was pronounced roughly \thveng\,
not \twing\. To get the pronunciation \twing\, you want the
runes labelled <tuink>. (This could also represent the
pronunciations \twink\, \tvink\, \twenk\, \tvenk\, \tving\,
\tweng\, and \tveng\, but there's nothing to be done about
that: runic spelling is inherently ambiguous.)

<Thorian>, though not Old Norse, at least fits reasonably
well into Old Norse phonology; you could use the runes
labelled <þuriąn>. If you want the meaning of <red> rather
than the sound, make it <þuriąn rauþi>: <rauþi> is the
appropriate runic spelling of <rauði> 'red' (as a
descriptive byname). The closest you can come to
representing the sound is the runic spelling <rit>.

Brian