An Introduction to English Runes

Author: Raymond Ian Page
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9780851159461
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Book Description
Introduction to the use of runes as a practical script for a variety of purposes in Anglo-Saxon England. Runes are quite frequently mentioned in modern writings, usually imprecisely as a source of mystic knowledge, power or insight. This book sets the record straight. It shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes in early English times, among both indigenous Anglo-Saxons and incoming Vikings. In a scholarly yet readable way it examines the introduction of the runic alphabet (the futhorc) to England in the fifth and sixth centuries, the forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, up until its decline at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. It discusses how runes were used for informal and day-to-day purposes, on formal monuments, as decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners' or makers' names on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters. For the first time, the book presents, together with earlier finds, the many runic objects discovered over the last twenty years, with a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, even including tourists' scratched signatures found on the pilgrimage routes through Italy. It gives an idea of the immense range of informationon language and social history contained in these unique documents. The late R.I. PAGE was former Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge.

An Introduction to English Runes

Author: Raymond Ian Page
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Incorporated
ISBN: 9780851157689
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Book Description
RUNES are quite frequently mentioned in modern writings, usually imprecisely as a source of mystic knowledge, power or insight. This book sets the record straight. It shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes in early English times, among both indigenous Anglo-Saxons and incoming Vikings. The author, widely regarded as the expert in this field, examines the introduction of the runic alphabet (the fuporc) to England in the fifth and sixth centuries, the forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, until its decline at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. He discusses how runes were used for informal and day-to-day purposes, on formal monuments, as decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners' or makers' names on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters. An Introduction to English Runes appeared originally twenty years ago. It has remained unsurpassed for its overview of the subject, but in the intervening years much new material has been discovered, and research has significantly expanded knowledge of how and why runes were used. Such advances are here in this new edition (the many runic finds include a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, and even travellers' scratched signatures found on the pilgrimage routes through Italy); the extensive updating confirms it as the essential guide to runes, revealing the immense range of information on language and social history contained in these unique documents.

An Introduction to English Runes

Author: Raymond Ian Page
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
Introduction to the use of runes as a practical script for a variety of purposes in Anglo-Saxon England.

Runes

Author: Raymond Ian Page
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520061149
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 72

Book Description
Describes the ancient writing system used by Northmen, Anglo-Saxons, and Vikings, and the inscriptions found in Scandanavia, the British Isles, and North America.

Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions

Author: Terje Spurkland
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9781843831860
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
"This book presents an accessible account of the Norwegian examples throughout the period of their use. The runic inscriptions are discussed not only from a linguistic point of view but also as sources of information on Norwegian history and culture". --BOOKJACKET.

Runes

Author: Ralph Warren Victor Elliott
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719007873
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Book Description

Runes

Author: Michael P. Barnes
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 1843837781
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
Offers a full introduction to and survey of runes and runology: their history, how they were used, and their interpretation. Runes, often considered magical symbols of mystery and power, are in fact an alphabetic form of writing. Derived from one or more Mediterranean prototypes, they were used by Germanic peoples to write different kinds of Germanic language, principally Anglo-Saxon and the various Scandinavian idioms, and were carved into stone, wood, bone, metal, and other hard surfaces; types of inscription range from memorials to the dead, through Christian prayers and everyday messages to crude graffiti. First reliably attested in the second century AD, runes were in due course supplanted by the roman alphabet, though in Anglo-Saxon England they continued in use until the early eleventh century, inScandinavia until the fifteenth (and later still in one or two outlying areas). This book provides an accessible, general account of runes and runic writing from their inception to their final demise. It also covers modern uses of runes, and deals with such topics as encoded texts, rune names, how runic inscriptions were made, runological method, and the history of runic research. A final chapter explains where those keen to see runic inscriptions can most easily find them. Professor MICHAEL P, BARNES is Emeritus Professor of Scandinavian Studies, University College London.

The Old English Rune Poem

Author: Maureen Halsall
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487592647
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 179

Book Description
This critical edition provides unique access to a work which has challenged scholars and students alike. The book is the first to deal fully with the poem as literature and to supply the runic background necessary for an understanding of the raw materials with which the poet was working. The introduction offers a thorough discussion of the origin, development, and uses of runes before proceeding to the close examination of text, language, literary sources, style, and themes of the poem. Following the text and translation of the poem proper, detailed explanatory notes pay particular attention to the background of each individual rune and rune name, and the appendixes provide analogous material to assist in setting the poet's achievement into the runic context. Since many of the sources necessary for an accurate assessement of the Old English Rune Poem are written in foreign or dead languages, modern English translations have been provided throughout to ensure that the poem will be accessible to students as well as to professional medievalists. (McMaster Old English Studies and Texts 2)

Runes and Runic Inscriptions

Author: Raymond Ian Page
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 9780851155999
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Book Description
The essays that comprise this study range from detailed discussion of the forms of particular runes in the runic alphabet to the wider matters on which runes throw light, such as magic, paganism, literacy and linguistic change.

Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry

Author: Thomas Birkett
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317070992
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 223

Book Description
Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry is the first book-length study to compare responses to runic heritage in the literature of Anglo-Saxon England and medieval Iceland. The Anglo-Saxon runic script had already become the preserve of antiquarians at the time the majority of Old English poetry was written down, and the Icelanders recording the mythology associated with the script were at some remove from the centres of runic practice in medieval Scandinavia. Both literary cultures thus inherited knowledge of the runic system and the traditions associated with it, but viewed this literate past from the vantage point of a developed manuscript culture. There has, as yet, been no comprehensive study of poetic responses to this scriptural heritage, which include episodes in such canonical texts as Beowulf, the Old English riddles and the poems of the Poetic Edda. By analysing the inflection of the script through shared literary traditions, this study enhances our understanding of the burgeoning of literary self-awareness in early medieval vernacular poetry and the construction of cultural memory, and furthers our understanding of the relationship between Anglo-Saxon and Norse textual cultures. The introduction sets out in detail the rationale for examining runes in poetry as a literary motif and surveys the relevant critical debates. The body of the volume is comprised of five linked case studies of runes in poetry, viewing these representations through the paradigm of scriptural reconstruction and the validation of contemporary literary, historical and religious sensibilities.