/futh/ - Futhark

ᚠ Wealth is a comfort to all men;

yet must every man bestow it freely,

if he wish to gain honour in the sight of the Lord.

ᚢ The aurochs is proud and has great horns;

it is a very savage beast and fights with its horns;

a great ranger of the moors, it is a creature of mettle.

ᚦ The thorn is exceedingly sharp,

an evil thing for any knight to touch,

uncommonly severe on all who sit among them.

ᚩ The mouth is the source of all language,

a pillar of wisdom and a comfort to wise men,

a blessing and a joy to every knight.

ᚱ Riding seems easy to every warrior while he is indoors

and very courageous to him who traverses the high-roads

on the back of a stout horse.

ᚳ The torch is known to every living man by its pale, bright flame;

it always burns where princes sit within.

ᚷ Generosity brings credit and honour, which support one's dignity;

it furnishes help and subsistence

to all broken men who are devoid of aught else.

ᚹ Bliss he enjoys who knows not suffering, sorrow nor anxiety,

and has prosperity and happiness and a good enough house.

ᚺ Hail is the whitest of grain;

it is whirled from the vault of heaven

and is tossed about by gusts of wind

and then it melts into water.

ᚾ Trouble is oppressive to the heart;

yet often it proves a source of help and salvation

to the children of men, to everyone who heeds it betimes.

ᛁ Ice is very cold and immeasurably slippery;

it glistens as clear as glass and most like to gems;

it is a floor wrought by the frost, fair to look upon.

ᛄ Summer is a joy to men, when god, the king of the heavens,

suffers the earth to bring forth shining fruits

for rich and poor alike.

ᛇ The yew is a tree with rough bark,

hard and fast in the earth, supported by its roots,

a guardian of flame and a joy upon an estate.

ᛈ Peorth is a source of recreation and amusement to the great,

where warriors sit blithely together in the banqueting-hall.

ᛉ The Elk-sedge is mostly to be found in a marsh;

it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound,

covering with blood every warrior who touches it.

ᛋ The sun is ever a joy in the hopes of seafarers

when they journey away over the fishes' bath,

until the courser of the deep bears them to land.

ᛏ Tiw is a guiding star; well does it keep faith with princes;

it is ever on its course over the mists of night and never fails.

ᛒ The poplar bears no fruit; yet without seed it brings forth suckers,

for it is generated from its leaves.

Splendid are its branches and gloriously adorned

its lofty crown which reaches to the skies.

ᛖ The horse is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors.

A steed in the pride of its hoofs,

when rich men on horseback bandy words about it;

and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless.

ᛗ The joyous man is dear to his kinsmen;

yet every man is doomed to fail his fellow,

since the lord by his decree will commit the vile carrion to the earth.

ᛚ The ocean seems interminable to men,

if they venture on the rolling bark

and the waves of the sea terrify them

and the courser of the deep heed not its bridle.

ᛝ Ing was first seen by men among the East-Danes,

till, followed by his chariot,

he departed eastwards over the waves.

So the Heardingas named the hero.

ᛟ An estate is very dear to every man,

if he can enjoy there in his house

whatever is right and proper in constant prosperity.

ᛞ Day, the glorious light of the maker, is sent by the lord;

it is beloved of men, a source of hope and happiness to rich and poor,

and of service to all.

ᚪ The oak fattens the flesh of pigs for the children of men.

Often it traverses the gannet's bath,

and the ocean proves whether the oak keeps faith

in honourable fashion.

ᚫ The ash is exceedingly high and precious to men.

With its sturdy trunk it offers a stubborn resistance,

though attacked by many a man.

ᚣ Yr is a source of joy and honour to every prince and knight;

it looks well on a horse and is a reliable equipment for a journey.

ᛡ Iar is a river fish and yet it always feeds on land;

it has a fair abode encompassed by water, where it lives in happiness.

ᛠ The grave is horrible to every knight,

when the corpse quickly begins to cool

and is laid in the bosom of the dark earth.

Prosperity declines, happiness passes away

and covenants are broken.

ᚠ Wealth

source of discord among kinsmen

and fire of the sea

and path of the serpent.

ᚢ Shower

lamentation of the clouds

and ruin of the hay-harvest

and abomination of the shepherd.

ᚦ Giant

torture of women

and cliff-dweller

and husband of a giantess.

ᚬ Aesir

aged Gautr

and prince of Ásgarðr

and lord of Vallhalla.

R Riding

joy of the horsemen

and speedy journey

and toil of the steed.

ᚴ Ulcer

disease fatal to children

and painful spot

and abode of mortification.

ᚼ Hail

cold grain

and shower of sleet

and sickness of serpents.

ᚾ Constraint

grief of the bond-maid

and state of oppression

and toilsome work.

ᛁ Ice

bark of rivers

and roof of the wave

and destruction of the doomed.

ᛅ Plenty

boon to men

and good summer

and thriving crops.

ᛋ Sun

shield of the clouds

and shining ray

and destroyer of ice.

ᛏ Týr

god with one hand

and leavings of the wolf

and prince of temples.

ᛒ Birch

leafy twig

and little tree

and fresh young shrub.

ᛘ Man

delight of man

and augmentation of the earth

and adorner of ships.

ᛚ Water

eddying stream

and broad geysir

and land of the fish.

ᛦ Yew

bent bow

and brittle iron

and giant of the arrow.

ᚠ Wealth is a source of discord among kinsmen;

the wolf lives in the forest.

ᚢ Dross comes from bad iron;

the reindeer often races over the frozen snow.

ᚦ Giant causes anguish to women;

misfortune makes few men cheerful.

ᚬ Estuary is the way of most journeys;

but a scabbard is of swords.

ᚱ Riding is said to be the worst thing for horses;

Reginn forged the finest sword.

ᚴ Ulcer is fatal to children;

death makes a corpse pale.

ᚼ Hail is the coldest of grain;

Christ created the world of old.

ᚾ Constraint gives scant choice;

a naked man is chilled by the frost.

ᛁ Ice we call the broad bridge;

the blind man must be led.

ᛅ Plenty is a boon to men;

I say that Frothi was generous.

ᛋ Sun is the light of the world;

I bow to the divine decree.

ᛏ Tyr is a one-handed god;

often has the smith to blow.

ᛒ Birch has the greenest leaves of any shrub;

Loki was fortunate in his deceit.

ᛘ Man is an augmentation of the dust;

great is the claw of the hawk.

ᛚ A waterfall is a River which falls from a mountain-side;

but ornaments are of gold.

ᛦ Yew is the greenest of trees in winter;

it is wont to crackle when it burns.

A contemporary effort to create songs of the runes is by Norwegian band Wardruna ("rune guardian"). Their three-album "Runaljod" ("rune song") is still a work in progress. They are placing the runes in a different order and creating songs in the Old Norse language, with reconstructions of ancient instruments, to illustrate the characteristics of the runic characters.

The first record, Gap var ginnunga, covers the runes ᚺ, ᛒ, ᚦ, ᛃ, ᛚ, ᚲ, ᛉ, and ᛞ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zdg-AMv8tw

The second record, Yggdrasil, covers the runes ᚠ, ᚾ, ᛖ, ᚨ, ᛁ, ᛜ, ᚷ, and ᛋ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLU9gcqeOWU

The third record, Ragnarök, is not yet completed but will presumably cover the remainder of the Elder Futhark.