Sæll Arnljótr!

> I think it is quite easy to draw accurate pictures of the runes in

the various maniphestations and save them in e.g. .bmp format.
When I made the 18th century Dalecarlian runes on the site
http://www.geocities.com/jepe2503/hogsvenska/dalrunor.html
I just used MicroSoft's Paint and saved them as .bmp files. I think
they are at most 1K each.

> Jens

The Darecarlian runes you have drawn are very attractive. They are
easily readable and appealing to the eye. In the future I will be
looking forward to the creation of a program cabable of producing
the original 16-letter fúþårk-alphabet for publication. However,
this will not be easy. The characters will have to be measured and
programmed according to an exact system of measurements for both the
dimensions of the different characters and their spacing in relation
to one and other. I have developed two overall plans for the amount
of space each rune will occupy in a theoretical space = 1 unit. In
the 1st plan most runes will = .75, but in the 2nd .66. For example,
the runes F, U, R, K, and S will = .75, but the other runes will be
narrower by unequal amounts. R2 (ýr/íuR) and M (maðr/mannR) will be
exceptions in that they will = a full 1.0 each. As you can imagine,
designing a program capable of correctly measuring and spacing each
character in relation to every possible combination of characters
will not be easy. Any plan will be based on the 16-letter fúþårk of
the earliest period, from which all later fúþårk-alphbets derive. It
will include no curved lines of any kind, being entirely angular in
character. There will be only 4 vowel-symbols, expressing 26+ sounds
by a single rune (monothongs) and uncounted diphthongs by a simple
combination of 2 vowel-symbols. 3 of the vowel-symbols will show no
variation of any kind, while the 4th (ár) will have 2 short forms in
addition to its traditional full form. In short, either side of the
cross-bar can be broken off for visual elegance. For each of the 4
vowel-symbols and any possible combination of them, it will be only
the placement of the dots which gives the exact sound. Although we
have thus far discussed only the 8 characters based on Ár and Åss, I
will give some diphthong examples. Ár (either full or with its right
arm broken off) + U (the undotted ÚrR-rune) will equal AU. A + any
other dotted form of the ÚrR-rune will produce a diffent diphthong.
A+U=AÚ (by one dot over the U´s cross-bar) - although no dialect can
have both AU and AÚ as a diphthong, A+U=Y (by one dot below the U´s
cross-bar between the lines, as in the Norwegian dotted rune), A+U=Ý
(by one dot over the U´s cross-bar AND below between the lines. How
about EU, EÚ, EY, and EÝ ? Create the character for I-mutation of
natural short Proto-Norse A on your Ár-rune (one dot the LEFT of the
vertical line and ABOVE the cross-bar). Now add U, Ú, Y, or Ý. as
you can see, the possibilities go beyond that of any one dialect. We
have just represnted 4 dialectical forms of a single diphthong, one
with AU and AY as its I-mutation, a second with AÚ and AÝ as its I-
mutation, a third with EU and EY as its I-mutation, and a fourth
with EÚ and EÝ as its I-mutation. The dialect of Snorri Sturluson
would be represented by a combination of AU and EY, that of Ari and
earlier West Norse speakers by AU and AY (Ari always writes AY). As
you can imagine, the gallery of theoretical diphthongs can be quite
large. It is for this reason paramount to understand simple vowels.
More on these when I post about Íss and ÚrR.

The alphabet will be designed to represent faithfully the language
of the earliest runic inscriptions in the 16-letter fúþårk. Where
one to remove the dots, any given text should appear as a perfectly
angular version of the script seen on a Danish runic monument from
between 800-900, exempting that more than one option will exist for
certain of the 16 runes. In addition to the 2 Swedish Ár-rune vari-
ants, there will be classical angular variants for F, S, T, B, M.
These will have one classical variation apiece. Options for division
marks between words will include the ´x´ of Sven´s period, the ´:´
of Harold and Gorm´s period, and finally the short ´l´ of the very
earliest period. This last one, which I prefer, is a short vertical
line occupying about 1/3 of the space between the higher and lower
bars between the runes appear. It looks line a version of ´:´, but
with the dots connected. This is found on the earliest stones with
the new alphabet. Although it will not be the only option, it does
have the advantage of appearing somewhat more visually distinct as a
space-divider between words in a line of dotted runes. Runes will
appear between 2 lines (the ´bars´) and there will be an option for
separating these lines (as on certain fancy stones). The alphabet
uses the same runes for the same sounds as the most conservative
spellers of the early Viking Age. Although designed to write the
Norse of the last period of linguistic unity in Scandinavia, it will
be cabable of expressing any sound introduced up to about 1300 with
no runes beyond the original 16, even if a given sound did not exist
around 800. This will be achieved without any change in spelling
from the most conservative spelling of the earliest period. Finally,
it is and elegant system which clearly shows the Proto-Norse sound
behind every vowel or diphthong imaginable, thus providing scholars
with an advanced tool for representing inscriptions verbatim or in
any demarkated dialect by use of dots. In addition to a full vowel-
inventory, there will be 2 consonantal systems for printing. One
will consist of standard consonants with simple distinguishing dots,
the other of an advanced system of full and broken runes capables of
showing the whole consonantal history of the language from Proto-
Norse to about 1300 through one glyph per word. This second option
will be for scholarly use only, as it presents by its spelling both
the vowel AND the consonantal history from Proto-Norse, which is our
point of reference. Because this second option creates characters
beyond the original 16, it will be less elegant and not used in any
standard edition of text for reading. It is for academic purposes,
as the 24-letter fúþark will be as well (citations in Proto-Norse).
In either option, however, the full vowal history will be present,
leaving nothing but the consonantal history to the imagination in
the standard version. Any layman will be able to read a simple 2 or
3 page description of the characters and learn the history of the
language simple by reading. It would be an educational tool as well
as a standard printed and published alphabet. Were a layman to take
the extra step of learning the second system of consonantal runes,
he would be able to consruct Proto-Norse forms for any word in any
text by understanding the script he is reading. This is exactly what
elegance is all about. Look at the equations in physics. Linguists
and ancient Vikings would be reading the same script.