Cipher runes
Cipher runes, or cryptic runes, are the
Preservation
The knowledge of cipher runes was best preserved in Iceland, and during the 17th–18th centuries, Icelandic scholars produced several treatises on the subject. The most notable of these is the manuscript Runologia by Jón Ólafsson (1705–1779), which he wrote in Copenhagen (1732–1752). It thoroughly treats numerous cipher runes and runic ciphers, and it is now preserved in the Arnamagnæan Institute in Copenhagen.[1]
Jón Ólafsson's treatise presents the
Structure of the ciphers
In the runic alphabet, the runes have their special order and are divided into groups. In the
The tent runes are based on strokes added to the four arms of an X shape: Each X represents two runes and is read clockwise, starting with the top left arm. The strokes on the first arm representing the ætt (row of eight runes: (1) fuþarkgw, (2) hnijæpzs, (3) tbemlŋod), the strokes on the second arm denote the order within that ætt.
The branch runes are similar, the strokes being attached to a vertical stem and branching upwards. Strokes on the left indicate the ætt, and strokes on the right the order within the ætt.
There are variants of these two schemes, such as inverting the numbers (counting backwards the ætts, and the runes within the ætts). Tree runes and hook runes are like branch runes, with the strokes pointing downward diagonally and curving downward, respectively. These may be mixed: in the phrase ek vitki at left, ek is written in straightforward branch runes, but vitki is written with the ætts as hooks and the order as branches.
There are several runestones using such devices of obscuring the inscription, especially found in Orkney.
A comparable system of letter modification is that of the
See also
References
- ^ a b Enoksen 1998, p. 84.
- ^ "Cipher Runes". The Witch's Library. 2010-02-04. Archived from the original on 2017-09-03. Retrieved 2017-12-16.
- ^ Enoksen 1998, p. 85.
Works cited
- Enoksen, Lars Magnar (1998), Runor: historia, tydning, tolkning, Falun: Historiska Media, ISBN 91-88930-32-7.