The Unseen Words

in the Runic Alphabet

Joannes Richter

Fig. 1: Chart with the I*U-poles

European “ego”-pronouns may have been distributed from the Swiss
City of Chur in all directions: southwards as “ióu”, westward as “iéu”,
eastward as “iáu” and northwards as “ih”.
(from: The Etymological Fieldlines - published: 04/08/2012 )
Abstract
According to the linguist Morris Swadesh the first-person singular pronoun “I” is the most
important word in all languages.
In most Romance languages the first-person singular pronoun “I” is correlating to the name of the
local Creator-God. In Provencal the first-person singular pronoun “iéu” (“I”) is a part of the
corresponding Creator's name “Diéu” (“God”).
In Germanic languages this correspondence cannot be identified as easily. In Germanic languages a
similar correlation may be found between the dual form of the pronoun (“wut”, “we two”), the
substantive “wit” (“nous”, “wit”, “wisdom”) and the corresponding Creator-God “Tuw”).
Obviously the concept of the dual form belonged to the creation legend. The importance of these
fundamentals has been illustrated by the location of “wit” at the very beginning of the Futhorc-
alphabet.
Usually the prototype name [D]IAU[s] of the Creator-God has been based on the fundamental
vowels I, A, U. The runic first-person singular pronoun “Jak” (“I”) may have been based on
“ia(h)”.
The structure of alphabets has been founded on the three fundamental vowels I, A, U, in which the
“I” symbolizes the pillar of the sky, respectively the “A” symbolizes the beginning and the “U”
symbolizes the end of the world.
In the “Younger Futhark”-runic alphabets we may identify two word-concentrations “Futhark”
(ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ) respectively “niast” (ᚾᛁᛅᛋᛏ), in which we will read at least 12 runic words.
Of these 12 words 6 will be found near the consonant “þ”: wit (“we two”), Vut (Wodan), Tuw, Þor
(Thor), [K]Rod, and þu (“thou”) enclosed in the keyword “Futhark” (ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ).
The remaining 6 words will be found near the central vowel “a”: as (“deity”), ast (love), æ (I,
eternal), ai (great-grandfather), ia(h) (I), ain (unique, one) enclosed in the alphabetical area “niast”
(ᚾᛁᛅᛋᛏ).
The cores ie and ai (“æ”) have been derived from the root “aiϝ” and describe “eternity”, which also
may be interpreted as an arbitrariness.
Numerous Dutch words have been based on the “ie”-core, such as “ieder” (“every”), “iemand”
(anybody, somebody), “iets” (anything, something), but also “niemand” (nobody) and “niets”
(nothing).
A set of diversified vowels (A, I, U) in “aiϝ” defined “eternity” and has been used as a core for
various words. For example: the “ai” was the “eternally living” great-grandfather.
In the runic alphabet the “N” for negations may have been located at the left side of the eternity-
core “iæ”. This architecture enabled the readers to directly read “iæ” (everybody), “niæ” (never),
“æin” (one, unique) from the runic alphabet. The runic word “ain” (one, unique) also has been
equipped with the “n” for negations, but this letter “n” has been located at the end of the word.
In English the word “None” does contain two negations, for which the relevant letters “n” have
been marked in blue (“not one”). In German a similar dual negation has been applied in “nein”
(“no”): “not one”. In Dutch also a similar dual negation has been applied in “neen” (“no”): “not
one”.
Introduction

The word “I”

According to the linguist Morris Swadesh1 the first-person singular pronoun “I” is the most
important word in all languages.
In order to improve readability I introduced a shortcut (“ego”-pronoun) for the first-person singular
pronoun.

The “ego”-pronoun “I” in Romance languages

In most Romance languages the “ego”-pronoun “I” is correlating to the name of the local Creator-
God. In Provencal the “ego”-pronoun “iéu” (“I”) is a part of the corresponding Creator's name
“Diéu” (“God”). In Italian, Spanish and Portuguese we may identify similar correlations between
the “ego”-pronouns (“io”, “yo”, “eu”) and their corresponding Creator's names (“Dio”, “Dios”,
“Deu”).

The “ego”-pronoun “I” in Germanic languages

In Germanic languages this correspondence cannot be identified as easily. In Germanic languages a
similar correlation may be found between the dual form of the pronoun (“wut”, “we two”), the
substantive “wit” (“nous”, “wit”, “wisdom”) and the corresponding Creator “Tuw”).
In Germanic philosophy the first Man and his Creator could not be interpreted as common human
beings, but rather as dual “people”. In order to confirm this definition we will have to study our
languages. According to my studies the Germanic languages used the dual form and correlated the
personal pronoun (“wut” or “wit”, “we two”) of the first person dual form with the Creator (“Tīw”,
“Tiwaz” or “Týr”)2.

The Greek nous-concept

The archaic Greek dual form νῶϊ (“we two”) for the personal pronoun correlates to νόος (nous, →
“wit”, “mind”), which may have initiated the Greek nous-concept as a core for Greek philosophy. 3
A similar nous-core for Germanic philosophy may have been founded in the “wit” (“mind”,
“spirit”) - concept. In fact the word nous may be translated as “wit”:
common sense, discreetness, discretion, gumption [chiefly dialect], horse sense,
levelheadedness, policy, prudence, sense, sensibleness, wisdom, wit. 4

However Beekes claims the absence of an assured etymology:

The Greek word nous is of uncertain origin. Beekes writes, "No doubt an old inherited
verbal noun ..., though there is no certain etymology." 5

If “wit” (“we two”, “wit”) is related to “wit” (“mind”, “spirit”) we may search for a correlation
between νῶϊ (“we two”) and nous (“wit”).

1 The Swadesh list start with the personal pronoun of the first person singular
2 De woordenschat in het runenalfabet
3 Over het filosofische "Nous"-concept
4 Nous | Definition of Nous by Merriam-Webster
5 nous | Origin and meaning of nous by Online Etymology Dictionary
The personal pronoun “wit” and the runic word “Uitr” (“wizard”)
The correlation between the personal pronoun “wit” (“we two”) and the substantive “wits” (as
“nous”) may have been founded on the runic word “Uitr” (“wizard”), which is based on “wise” and
“wit” (“wisdom”):
wizard

early 15c., "philosopher, sage," from Middle English wys "wise" (see wise (adj.)) +
-ard. Compare Lithuanian žynystė "magic," žynys "sorcerer," žynė "witch," all from
žinoti "to know."6

Fig. 2: The runic word “Uitr” (wizard) in Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844)

by Udo Waldemar Dieterich

6 wizard
The Creation Legend
The impact of the dual form on our philosophical system may still be traced back in our creation
legends, in which originally the first androgynous Man (“Adam Kadmon”) had been created. The
Creation of Man in Genesis starts with a dual creature Man, to be followed by a split up in a male
and female human being.
Even the Pharisees stated the creation of Man Adam as an image of the Creator (Gen. i. 27) to be
followed (Gen. ii. 7) by the creation of “the first man”. The Pharisees explained the separation of
the male and female halves as follows:
In explaining the various views concerning Eve's creation, they taught ('Er. 18a, Gen. R.
viii.) that Adam was created as a man-woman (androgynos), explaining (Gen. i. 27) as
"male and female" instead of "man and woman," and that the separation of the sexes
arose from the subsequent operation upon Adam's body, as related in the Scripture. This
explains Philo's statement that the original man was neither man nor woman7.

In the speech of Aristophanes (in the dialogue Symposium8) Plato describes this myth as a detailed
record.
“Adam Kadmon” became the prototype for a parental couple, which had to be united to its original
joined state by marriage, which also corresponded to the archaic image of the Creator.
In language the dual form makes sense to describe the dual structure of a parental couple or “Adam
Kadmon”. The dual form may have been designed to promote the duality as a positive contribution
to society.
If a government or society reforms the philosophical environment and abolishes the duality the
joints between the matrimonial partners will disappear, to be followed by the dual forms and
ultimately also the archaic religions. This is what may have been diagnosed in the transfers from
original matriarchal to patriarchal power.
In several European languages some of the “ego”-pronouns, which originally may have been
structured as a dual concept, ultimately reduced themselves to isolated “egocentric” unities.
In the Provencal concept the “ego”-pronoun “iéu” (“I”) started as a dual or triad concept, in which
the vowels I and U respectively I, É and U symbolized philosophical cores. In the course of time
this word “iéu” started as a dual or triad concept and may have been reduced to a single core “ego”-
pronoun.

The city of Chur

A strange pattern of a dedicated distribution of ego-pronouns “iéu”, “ióu”, “iáu” and “ih” may be
identified in the Swiss valley around the city of Chur. In a paper9 I investigate the possibility of a
distribution of “ego”-pronouns from Chur in all four directions: to the south (Italy) as “ióu”, th the
west (France) “iéu”, to the east (Slavs) “iáu” and to the north (German) as “ih”.
Archaeological evidence of settlement at the site, in the Eastern Alps, goes back as far as the
Pfyn culture[3] (3900-3500 BC),[4] making Chur one of the oldest settlements in
Switzerland. In the 4th century Chur became the seat of the first Christian bishopric north of
the Alps10.

7 From the Jewish Encyclopedia: Adam Kadmon ( Er. 18a, Gen. R. viii.)
8 dated c. 385–370 BC
9 The Role of the Vowels in Personal Pronouns of the 1st Person Singular
10 Source: Chur
Near Chur we may visit the astronomical center named Park “La Mutta”, which had been dated
around 1400 BCE. This episode has been known as a period of Chaldean astronomic observatories
at Harran and Ur. The observations concentrated on the seven visible “floating stars” (named
“planets”), which later – at the introduction of the Greek alphabet - had been assigned to the seven
Greek vowels A, E, H, I, O, U, Ω11.

The archaic vowels A, I and U

The exact assignments of planets to vowels is unknown, but originally the number of available
vowels had been restricted to 3 characters, which by Dieterich had been described as A, I and U:

3 The three archaic vowels U, I, A in Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) by Udo Waldemar Dieterich

In fact the philosophical symbol A is not the short A-vowel, but must be understood as an extended
“aa”, “ae” or “æ”, which in Iceland and some Scandinavian dialects is used as an “ego”-pronoun
and as an adverb or adjective “eternal”. In archaic eras eternal life is a popular attribute which even
in the Middle Age could be sold for large amounts of money. In Greek language eternity has been
symbolized by a series of different vowels, which could be combined to form a divine name such
as IAΩΟΥΗΕ (Jehovah).
As a prototype of Romance “ego”-pronouns we might start with IAΩ12, which is composed by
sorting the archaic vowels I, A, U and also has been used as a translation for the Tetragrammaton
IHVH13. The Tetragrammaton ‫יהוה‬, JHWH uses mothers of reading (matris lectionis) to mark the
consonants which symbolize vowels.
The manuscript 4Q120 (also pap4QLXXLevb) is a Septuagint manuscript (LXX) of
the biblical Book of Leviticus.

In addition to smaller text-critical variants, the manuscript displays the divine name in
Greek characters, as ΙΑΩ (the trigrammaton) in Leviticus 3:12 (frg. 6) and 4:27 (frg.
20), instead of later practice of replacing it with κύριος ("Lord"). It is transliterated as
IAO14.

11 The Role of the Vowels in Personal Pronouns of the 1st Person Singular
12 IAΩ scheint die griechische Entsprechung der drei ersten hebräischen Buchstaben des Tetragramms JHW seit ca.
200 v.u.Z. bis zur Mitte des zweiten Jahrhunderts gewesen zu sein. Mit Ἰάω ist die richtige Aussprache der ersten
drei Silben erhalten geblieben: Jahu. (Unser Schöpfer - Wie ist Sein Name?)
13 IAΩ Is the Greek Pronunciation of YHVH
14 Manuscript Q120 - Septuagint manuscript (LXX) of the biblical Book of Leviticus dated first century BCE
In ΙΑΩ the first vowel I symbolizes the main role, which also may be derived from the Latin
scripture of long vowels Á É ꟾ Ó vv, in which the Long I is not equipped by a diacritic, but is
marked by a taller vertical stroke.
Long i, ⟨ꟾ⟩, transcribes a long i-vowel /iː/ in Latin. It stands in for the apex used on other
long vowels: á é ó vv /aː eː oː uː/. 15

Some alphabets use the A as a initial letter and the U (V respectively Ω) as a terminal character,
which in the Bible have been defined as the beginning (Alpha) and the end (Omega)16.
Literally the phrase “I am the Alpha and the Omega” may be formulated for the alphabet
“Á....É….ꟾ….Ó…..vv” and symbolically as well for the Name “IAΩ”, in which the “I” has found a
leading position before A and Ω.
The central vowel I may have been considered as the pillar of the world's sky, which for this reason
also occupied the center of the alphabet. Symbolically the pillar I or Y represented the gigantic tree
Yggdrasil, which supported the sky. Obviously the Yggdrasil has been misinterpreted as an ash tree
and should be interpreted as the “eternally living” yew (Taxus baccata)17.
In his translations of the Bible Wycliffe originally used the word “Y” as an “ego”-pronoun and for
instance his translation of (Wycliffe's) Genesis reads:
Genesis 3-10 And Adam seide, Y herde thi vois in paradijs, and Y drede, for Y was nakid,
and Y hidde me.

As may be seen in this example the Old-English “ego”-pronoun “Y” had been spelled as a capital
letter. Is this a respect for the Creature, who resembled the Creator?
In English also the names for the days of the week are spelled with an initial capital letter. Is this a
honor to the Creation of the 7 planets or the sacred 7 vowels? After all the 7 days of the week had
been devoted to the 7 visible planets, which for centuries had been considered as gods.
Three vowels “IAΩ18”, 5 Latin vowels “AEIOU19” and the 7 Chaldean vowels “AEHIOYΩ20”,
YeHoWaH21 or “iaωουηε22” symbolized planets.

15 Long I
16 Revelation 22:13 NIV - I am the Alpha and the Omega
17 Es of taxus?
18 The Name of God Y.eH.oW.aH Which is pronounced as it is Written
19 "A.E.I.O.U." was a symbolic device personally used by Habsburg emperor Frederick III (1415–1493), who had a
fondness for mythical formulae.
20 A-Ω: Greek Vowels and the Chaldean Planets
21 The Name of God Y.eH.oW.aH Which is pronounced as it is Written
22 “In the Jewish-Egyptian magic-papyri it appears as Ιαωουηε.” (source: Names Of God - Jewishencyclopedia)
The etymology of the word “I”
In order to study the etymology of the word “I” I concentrate on two sources: the creation legends
and the runic alphabets. In the (German) runic dictionary the runic word “Jak” for the “ego”-
pronoun “I” has been defined as follows:23

Fig. 4 “Jak” and “Jah” (“I”) in the Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) by Udo Waldemar Dieterich

According to Dieterich the derivation of the runic word “Jak” (“I”) and the German equivalent
“ich” is considered as unsure. A relation to “Mik” (“me”) is listed:

5: Mik ("me") in the Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) by Udo Waldemar Dieterich

23 Runic Dictionary in German language: Runen-Sprach-Schatz oder Wörterbuch über die ältesten Sprachdenkmale
Skandinaviens (1844) by Udo Waldemar Dieterich
The words which are related to “aiϝ” (“eternity”)
At first Dieterich lists an entry of the reversed vowel combination “Ai”, which seems to be
considered as “unclear”.
In the dictionary this “Ai”-entry is followed by “aiϝikR” (“eternal”), in which the root “aiϝ” has to
be interpreted as a genuine vowel combination. In Dutch this word has been changed towards
“eeuwig” (“eternal”) and in German the word is spelled as “ewig” (“eternal”). Both “eeuwig” and
“ewig” are spelled with a consonant “w”, which as a digamma (ϝ) also should be understood as a
vowel combination (a double-u or “uu”:

6 Ai (“æ”) and AifikR ("eternal") in Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) by Udo Waldemar Dieterich

In Sámi language the words use a letter “k”, instead of the digamma (ϝ) which had been identified
as a “w”:
• in Sámi: eke = “the great grandfather”
• in Sámi: ikää = “eternal” (in runes: “aiϝikR”, in Dutch: “eeuwig”, in German: “ewig”)
• in Sámi: iko = “at night”
The Dutch and German “ie”-cores
The Germanic cores “eo24”, “ie” and “ai” (“æ”) have been derived from “aiϝ” (“eternal”), which
also may be interpreted as a coincidence or arbitrariness.
In Dutch and German languages a number of words are using the “ie”-core, resp. je-core, such as:
English Old-Saxon, MHG, OHG, ... Dutch German
matrimony æ, ē, ee, eje, ewe, ... echt Ehe
an arbitrary person, somebody eoman, someone iemand jemand
an arbitrarily chosen thing, something aniþing / something iets etwas
any arbitrary person, anyone eani mon, ani on Iedereen Jedermann
ever, at any time a, æfre ooit je, jemals
Not a single person neoman, nobody, noone niemand Niemand
No single thing nothing niets Nichts
new (“not eternal”) neowe, niwe, niowe, nieuw neu
Table 1: words which (eventually) are based on a “ie”-core

The word new

The word “new” may seem to complete the series “nobody”, “nothing” by addition of the negations
of “aiϝ”-derivatives.
However the etymology of the Dutch word “nieuw” is considered unclear. Several derivations have
been suggested in the entry nieuw (in Dutch)25.
Officially the word “new” is derived from:
Middle English newe, from Old English nīwe, nēowe (“new”), from Proto-Germanic
*niwjaz (“new, fresh”), from Proto-Indo-European *néwyos (“new”). 26

Old English neowe, niowe, earlier niwe "new, fresh, recent, novel, unheard-of, different
from the old; untried, inexperienced," from Proto-Germanic *neuja- (source also of Old
Saxon niuwi, Old Frisian nie, Middle Dutch nieuwe, Dutch nieuw, Old High German
niuwl, German neu, Danish and Swedish ny, Gothic niujis "new"), from PIE *newo-
"new" (source also of Sanskrit navah, Persian nau, Hittite newash, Greek neos,
Lithuanian naujas, Old Church Slavonic novu, Russian novyi, Latin novus, Old Irish
nue, Welsh newydd "new"). 27

Old English nīwe, nēowe, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch nieuw and German neu,
from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit nava, Latin novus, and Greek neos
‘new’28.

24 From Proto-Germanic *aiwaz, whence also Old Norse ei

25 nieuw (pas ontstaan, gegroeid of gemaakt) → Bronverwijzing: Sijs, Nicoline van der (samensteller) (2010),
Etymologiebank, op http://etymologiebank.nl/
26 Source: Etymology (from Wiktionary new)
27 Source: new | Origin and meaning of new by Online Etymology Dictionary
28 Source: new | Definition of new in English by Oxford Dictionaries
The structure of alphabets
Originally the alphabets had been structured according to well-planned design. Additional
characters however deteriorated the symmetry and symbolic structure of the Latin alphabet (A-B-C-
D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z).
The archaic Roman alphabet and the classical Greek alphabet reveal some remains of their original
structures and still mark the initial letters Alpha and the terminal letter V, respectively Omega29:
• the archaic Roman alphabet: A -D-E-F-H- I -K-M-N-O-S- V and
• the classical Greek alphabet: A-Β-Γ-Δ- Ε -(F)-Ζ- H-Θ-I-Κ-Λ-Μ-Ν-O-Π-Ρ-Σ-(Τ)-Υ-Χ-Ω30
Several runic (“Futhark/Futhorc”) alphabets reveal similar structures which may be based on the
vowels I, A, U or in other versions also include Æ, E and O. In the following sample of a runic
alphabet the vowel O is missing and the alphabet is founded on the 3 basic vowels U, I and A:

7 Alphabet with staveless runes in Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) by Udo Waldemar Dieterich

The next runic alphabet illustrates the additional O at the fourth position:

8 Two runic alphabets (including O) in Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) van Udo Waldemar Dieteric

Some of the runic (“Futhark/Futhorc”) alphabets reveal segments such as ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ which contain
keywords such as the “wut”-pronoun “wit” or “wut”) and divine names such as Tue, Tiv, Tys, Tyr,
Tuw or Tiw31.

The role of the planets Mercury and Venus

In his dialogue Timaeus Plato describes the subordinated role of the planets Mercurius and Venus,
which allowed the Roman philosophers to restrict the number of required vowels for the main
planetary symbols to the 5 long Roman vowels “Á, É, ꟾ, Ó, vv” and the 5 long Greek vowels A, H, I,
U, Ω, representing the Moon, Sun, Mars, Jupiter respectively Saturn.
In Greek the “bastard” planets Mercury and Venus had been represented by the symbolic vowels E
and O32.

29 The Reconstruction of the Gothic Alphabet's Design

30 Page 170 in The Story of Writing by Andrew Robinson
31 The unification of medieval Europe
32 Notes to Plato's Timaeus and Symposium
The two word-concentrations in the runic alphabets

The symmetry of Futhorc-structures

Up to this point the introduction had been based on earlier observations. The following chapter
concentrates on the two word-concentrations in the runic alphabets
Originally I had concentrated on the (yellow marked) initial segment of the Futhorc-structures, in
which contains the vowel “u”, the keyword ᚠᚢᚦ(ᚩᚱᚳ), the “wut”-pronoun (“wit” or “wut”) and the
divine names Vut, Wut, Tuw, Tiv of Tiw, (respectively Tue, Tys, or Tyr).
This initial segment includes the letter a, respectively in some versions also u, y, o, ø, w and ą, æ, o.
In the elder Futhark the A-ᛁ-U structure is marked by the runic structure: ᚨ (a) – ᛁ (I) – ᛟ (o), which
was to be lost in the younger Futhark.
In this paper I will document my investigations in the central section with the vowels i, j and æ
(eventually also including the e and a).
The center is marked by a simple vertical run “ᛁ”, which in the younger Futhark is surrounded by
the simplest runes ᚾ (N) and ᛅ (A):
ᚾ (n) – ᛁ (i) - ᛅ (a).

Elder ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛟ ᛞ
Futhark f u þ a r k g w h n i j æ p z s t b e m l ŋ o d

ᚢ
ᚠ u/w ᚦ ᚬ ᚴ ᛁ ᛅ ᛏ ᛒ
Younger ᚱ ᚼ ᚾ ᛦ ᛋ ᛘ ᛚ
Futhark f/ , þ, ą, k, — — i, a, — — t, b, — — — —
r h n ʀ s m l
v y, ð o, æ g e æ d p
o, ø
Table 2 The evolution of the Futhark concept (from Wikipedia's History in Younger Futhark)
The simplest structuring method is based on the vertical axis, a keyword and two wings. Both wings
seem to be initiated with an A-variant:33

key A&Ω Left-sided wing Central axis Right-sided wing Terminal

ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ ᛦ
f u þ Ą (a, o & æ) r k h n i A&æ s t b m l ʀ
Table 3: Danish Long-branch runes from Variants (in Younger Futhark)
The symmetry slightly might be improved by including the “A & Ω”-element in the left wing:

Left-sided wing
Key Central axi Right-sided wing Terminal
(including A & Ω)
ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ ᛦ
f u þ Ą (a, o & æ) r k h n i A&æ s t b m l ʀ
Table 4: Danish Long-branch runes from Variants (in Younger Futhark)

33 The Keywords in the Alphabets - Notes to the Futharc's Symbolism

The two word-locations
The runic alphabets reveal two word-locations:
• The first segment “ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ” including the “wut”-pronoun “wit” of “wut” and the divine
names Tue, Tiv, Tys, Tyr, Tuw or Tiw. In the Younger Futhark this segment ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ also may
symbolize and represent the divine names ᚦᚬᚱ (“Thor”) respectively ᚱᚬᚦ (“Rod)”.
• The second segment is concentrated in the center around the “i” and contains ia, ja, iæ, ijæ.
Elder ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛟ ᛞ
Futhark f u þ a r k g w h n i j æ p z s t b e m l ŋ o d

ᚢ
ᚠ u/w ᚦ ᚬ ᚴ ᛁ ᛅ ᛏ ᛒ
Younger ᚱ ᚼ ᚾ ᛦ ᛋ ᛘ ᛚ
Futhark f/ , þ, ą, o, k, — — i, a, — — t, b, — — — —
r h n ʀ s m l
v y, ð æ g e æ d p
o, ø
Table 3 The evolution of the Futhark concept (from Wikipedia's History in Younger Futhark)
In contrast we also may redesign the concept of the Younger Futhark by defining a central axis with
the vowel combinations ia, ja, iæ, ijæ, in which the “ego”-pronouns have been positioned.

Key Left-sided Right-sided Reading

Word Definition Central axi Terminal
(including A & Ω) wing wing direction
ᚠ ᚢᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ ᛦ
f u þ Ą (a, o & æ) r k h n i A&æ s t b m l ʀ

wit We two ϝ u t →
Vut Wodan v u þ →
Tuw Tuw w u t ←
Þor Thor þ o r →
[K]rod (K)Rod d o r (k) ←
þu Thou (you) u þ ←

as deity a s →
(i)ast love (i) a s t →
æ I, eternal æ ↔
great-
ai i a ←
grandfather
ia I i a →
ain unique, one n i a ←
Table 4: Danish Long-branch runes from Variants (in Younger Futhark)

The “þ”-oriented words: wit (we two), Vut (Wodan), Tuw, Þor (Thor), [K]Rod, þu (“thou/you”) are
located in the segment “Futhark” (ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ). The “a”-oriented words: as (deity), ast (love), æ (I,
eternal), ai (great-grandfather), ia (I), ain (unique, one) are found in the segment “niast” (ᚾᛁᛅᛋᛏ).
Additional words which may be read from the Futhark alphabet

The words with “ie”-cores

The Germanic cores “ie” and “ai” (“æ”) have been derived from “aiϝ” (“eternal”), which also may
be interpreted as a coincidence or arbitrariness.
In runic writing both directions may be used, which allows us to consider both cores “ie” and ai
(“æ”) equivalent. In Dutch the word “eeuwig” (runic form: “aiϝ”) arranges the vowels in
alphabetical order, which is also found in the Greek word (“aei”, “eternal”) in the normal reading
mode from left tot the right. The “ie”-core however uses a reversed reading order.
Numerous Germanic words are founded on the “ie”-core, such as:
• Dutch: “iemand” = an arbitrary chosen or available person (somebody, old-Saxon: eoman),
• Dutch: “iets” = an arbitrary chosen or available thing (something),
• Dutch: “iet” = every34,
• Dutch: “nieuw” = new (maybe → literally: “not eternal” ?),
• German: “je”, “jemals” = ever,
• German: “jemand” = an arbitrary chosen or available person (somebody, old-Saxon:
eoman),... etc.
In the runic alphabet we identify a letter “N” directly in front of the word “IA”, which may be
interpreted as a negation-parameter:
Negation English Dutch German Old-Saxon
NO arbitrary chosen or available person nobody niemand niemand neoman
NO arbitrary chosen or available thing nothing niets nichts
NOT at any time never nooit nie / niemals
Table 4 Negations
Some of the roots iæ, respectively niæ (nie) may be read directly from the Futhark-alphabet.
The negation “n” in the runic alphabet may purposely have been located directly in front of the i
and æ-entries to directly identify the words in the Futhark-alphabet:
key Central Right-sided Reading
Language Word Definition Left-sided wing Terminal
(inclusive A & Ω) axis wing direction
ᚠᚢᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ ᛦ
f u þ Ą (a, o & æ) r k h n i a&æ s t b m l ʀ
aiϝ eternal i æ ←

NL ie (t) everyone i æ →
NL je everyone i æ →
German je ever i æ →
German nie never n i æ →
German ein once n i æ ←

Table 5 The negation directly in front of the eternity-core iæ.

34 source: iet (iets) in Sijs, Nicoline van der (samensteller) (2010), Etymologiebank, op http://etymologiebank.nl/
Ain (one, unique)
According to Dieterich the word Ain (one, unique) may be related to “ai” and “aiϝikR” (“always the
same”:

9 “Ain” in Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) by Udo Waldemar Dieterich

Theoretically two kind of negations may be defined for the iæ “eternity”-condition, which is always
(∞ times) valid. We might feel the need to define “never” (0 times), which would be encoded by
positioning an “n” before the iæ “eternity”-condition, which may be resulting in the German
expression “nie” (“never”).
The other kind of negations expressed “only once” (1 time), which is encoded by reversing niæ to
æin, resulting in æin (one).
The negation-parameter may have been located purposely at the left side of the fundamental
eternity-core iæ. This allows us to directly read iæ (every), niæ (never) and æin (one) from the runic
alphabet.
In reversed reading the negation is still activated, but in another operation mode. The restriction in
“once” is not as exclusive as in “never”.
In fact “never” is the most restrictive condition by applying two negations, each of which is to be
encoded by an “n”.

Runic word meaning Mathematical code explanation explanation explanation

(NL) (English) (German)
iæ always ∞ eeuwigheid eternity ewigkeit
niæ never 0 Neen None Nein
(geen-een) (n-one) (niet één)
æin once 1 één one ein
Table 6 The negation-parameter “n” may be encoded once or twice (for “never”)
Even in modern spelling we may still be able to identify the different elements i respectively æ of
the eternity-core aiϝ and the negation-parameter n, which will be marked for a better overview:

Lan- Keyword Central Right Ter- Reading-

Word Explanation Math Left wing
guage (incl. A & Ω) axis wing minal direction
ᚠᚢᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋᛏᛒ ᛘ ᛚ ᛦ
f u þ ą(a,o,æ) r k h n i a&æ s t b m l ʀ
rune aiϝ eeuwig ∞ i æ ←
NL iæ (t) Iet (each) ∞ i æ →
NL iæ Ieder (each) ∞ i æ →
D iæ Je (ever)35 ∞ i æ →

D niæ Nie (never) 0 n i æ →

Niet/Nooit
NL niæ 0 n i æ →
(not/never)

NL æin Een (Once) 1 n i æ ←

D æin Ein (Once) 1 n i æ ←
Table 7 The negation n may be located at both sides if the eternity-core iæ.

Double negations in neen, none, nein

This concept for negations can only be applied in a scriptur, which allows a bidirectional mode of
reading.
• The English word None contains two negations, which have been marked blue in the
corresponding letters “n”: “not one”.
• In German the same doubled negation is found in: “nein” : “nicht eins” (“not one”).
• In Dutch the same doubled negation is found in: “neen”: “niet één”.

Ionste, Gunst, Ast (“love”)

10 “Ast” in de Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) van Udo Waldemar Dieterich

35 Ever: From Middle English evere, from Old English ǣfre, originally a phrase whose first element undoubtedly
consists of Old English ā (“ever, always”) + in (“in”) + an element possibly from feorh (“life, existence”) (dative
fēore). Compare Old English ā tō fēore (“ever in life”), Old English feorhlīf (“life”).
Searching for a suitable “Ast”-reference in an existing Germanic word I found Aesthetica which is
interpreted as “sensation”.
The word aesthetic is derived from the Greek αἰσθητικός (aisthetikos, meaning
"esthetic, sensitive, sentient, pertaining to sense perception"), which in turn was derived
from αἰσθάνομαι (aisthanomai, meaning "I perceive, feel, sense" and related to αἴσθησις
(aisthēsis, "sensation")36.

This definition does not really match “love”.

The second reference connects the runic word “ast” to the Dutch word “gunst”, or “ionste”, which
refers to “âst”:
...hiernaast ’t nog oudere onfr. ohd. os. anst v., oofri. êst (in samenst.), owfri. enst, ags.
êst v. “gunst, genade, welwillendheid”, on. âst v. “genegenheid”, got. ansts v. “gunst”.
Men heeft dit znw. wel als *ans-ti- opgevat en den germ. verbaalstam ann-, unn- op
anz-, unz- teruggevoerd, dat dan met genezen zou ablauten.... 37.

This is the word âst, which in the runic dictionary is explained as “love”.
In Dutch “Ionste38” and “gunst” are equivalents for “Ast”, which allows us to include the “i” as an
initial character for the “ast”-root. Unfortunately I did not find a “iast”-root. Therefore I included
the “i” in parentheses to indicate a possible link to “iast”.

Ai (“great-grandfather”)
The eternity-core aiϝ” has been based on various different vowels (A, I, U) and is used as a core for
a great number of words. The runic word “ai” is the ever-living great-grandfather.

11 “Ai” in Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) by Udo Waldemar Dieterich

36 Source: Aesthetics
37 N. van Wijk (1936 [1912]), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2e druk, Den Haag
38 Source: Gunst
Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................2
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
The word “I”....................................................................................................................................3
The “ego”-pronoun “I” in Romance languages..........................................................................3
The “ego”-pronoun “I” in Germanic languages..........................................................................3
The Greek nous-concept.............................................................................................................3
The personal pronoun “wit” and the runic word “Uitr” (“wizard”)................................................4
The Creation Legend.......................................................................................................................5
The city of Chur..........................................................................................................................5
The archaic vowels A, I and U.........................................................................................................6
The etymology of the word “I”........................................................................................................8
The words which are related to “aiϝ” (“eternity”) .....................................................................9
The Dutch and German “ie”-cores............................................................................................10
The word new.......................................................................................................................10
The structure of alphabets..............................................................................................................11
The role of the planets Mercury and Venus...................................................................................11
The two word-concentrations in the runic alphabets..........................................................................12
The symmetry of Futhorc-structures..............................................................................................12
The two word-locations.................................................................................................................13
Additional words which may be read from the Futhark alphabet..................................................14
The words with “ie”-cores........................................................................................................14
Ain (one, unique)......................................................................................................................15
Double negations in neen, none, nein.......................................................................................16
Ionste, Gunst, Ast (“love”)........................................................................................................16
Ai (“great-grandfather”)............................................................................................................17