Our alphabet employs 4 runes to represents simple vowals. The total
number of variations is 26. If I mistakenly typed the number 36 in
my last post, then I stand corrected. There are only 26. The 4 runes
used to represent these variations are named Ár (â - long A, from
Proto-Norse Jâra, meaning 'year'; Old Ice. ár), ÚrR (û = Old Ice. Ú,
from Proto-Norse Ûruz, meaning 'drizzle' or a kind of 'ox'), Íss (î
= Old Ice. Í, from Proto-Norse Îsaz, meaning 'ice'; historically, we
should write ÍsR instead of Íss; however, R is unpronounceable in
this position due to the loss of an intermediate A, resulting in the
early pronounciation 'Íss' in contrast to ÚrR, where R still remains
pronouncable), and Óss (with a small hook under the Ó, = Old Ice. Á
# 2, which is not a long A, but a long nasal vowal which resulted
from the loss of a following N; this sound is represented in modern
Norwegian by the letter Å; the Latin symbol Ó, with a small hook
under it, is not to be confused with the Latin symbol Ó = Ice. Ó).
The names of these 4 runes appear in Codex Leidensis Lat. quarto 83
as "ûrR, aus, îs, âr", where "aus" is equivalent to Ó with a small
hook underneath it = Modern Norwegian Å, not Old Norse AU). These 4
words could be represented by the modern Scandinavian spellings:
ÚrR
Åss
Íss
Ár
Now take a blank piece of paper and a ruler. Draw several horizontal
lines to place your runes between, resembling the appearance of a
classical runestone. These lines should run parallel to one another
and be evenly spaced, resembling a colledge-ruled piece of notebook
paper. Remember that our runes will tall and skiny. To start with,
it might be a good idea to space these lines more widely apart from
one another, allowing for mistakes in runic proportions during the
learning stages. Now draw the 4 runes whose names are given above.
For Ú, draw a vertical line from top to bottom, then draw a short
line extending from this line to the right and begining 1/3 of the
way down the vertical line from the top. This 2nd line should not be
perfectly horizontal, but should instead incline in a downward
direction, however slightly. This 2nd line should also be strait.
From the terminous of this line, draw a 3rd strait line all the way
to the bottom. This 3rd line should not be perfectly vertical, but
should instead incline slightly to the right, growing further from
the original vertical line as it approaches the bottom. Be sure to
allow enough room above the 2nd line to place a readable dot, as the
space between this 2nd line and the top bar will often be occupied
by a dot. By "bar" a mean the upper of the 2 horizontal lines that
extend across the page and between which our runes will be drawn.
Also, be sure to allow sufficient space between the vertical line
and the 3rd line extending downwards and to the right to allow for a
readable dot to be placed between the line. This space will also be
occupied by a dot in certain variations. There will be 10 characters
based on this U rune, employing dots in various locations.
For Ár (Â = long A), draw a vertical line from top to bottom, then
draw a shorter line crossing this line and inclining in an upward
direction from left to right. This 2nd line should be much shorter
than the vertical line intersecting it (remember that our runes are
to be drawn tall and skiny). The two lines should meet at point
exactly 1/2 of the way down the vertical line. This 2nd line should
not incline too steeply upwards from left to right, as there must be
space for readable dots both above and below this 2nd line on each
side of the vertical line, but the incline should be steep enough as
to not appear horizontal. This is important in order to avoid any
confusion with the N runes, which is a mirror image of this rune in
which the 2nd line inclines in the opposite direction. There will be
6 characters based on this rune, employing dots in various places.
For Åss (Ó with a hook underneath it = long nasal Á), draw a
vertical line from top to bottom, then draw 2 short lines extending
from the vertical line and to the right. The 1st of these 2 lines
should begin 1/3 of the way down from the top of the vertical line,
extending to the right and only slightly downwards. The 2nd of these
2 lines should begin 2/3 of the way down from the top of the
vertical line, also extending to the right and only slightly
downwards. These 2 extending lines should be equally distant from
each other at any point. They should also be of equal length and
short, allowing for enough space to place a readable dot between the
top line and the bar. By "bar" I mean the upper of the 2 horizontal
lines that extend across the page and between which our runes will
be drawn. The points at which these 2 short line meet the vertical
line should divide the vertical line into thirds. The points at
which these 2 vertical line terminate should divide the empty space
between the bars into quarters, the top of the 2 terminating at a
point exactly 1/2 of the way between the bars, and the lower of the
2 terminating at a point exactly 1/2 of the way down between this
imaginary mid-point and the lower bar - in other words, 3/4 of the
way down from the top bar. There will be 2 characters based on this
rune.
For Í, draw a vertical line from top to bottom. There will be 8
characters based on this rune.
10 plus 6 plus 2 plus 8 = 26 characters. Each of these characters
will represent a simple vowal sound - a monothong. Diphthongs will
be dealt with later.
Now the fun begins. For how to draw these 26 characters, please see
my next post dealing with the 26 simple Danish vowals.