Runes rule!
A big idea
Four thousand years ago, people invented a new way to send messages and remember things without needing to say them! Writing was a game-changer for sharing stories and ideas across time and in different places.
Today we use the Roman alphabet when writing English, but did you know that Anglo-Saxon people used pointed letters called runes rather than our rounded letters? Find out more about these mysterious carvings and see if you can crack the code to read our secret message!
Lost languages, found voices
When a language hasn't been spoken by anyone for a very long time, people forget how to understand it. This is called an extinct language. Deciphering its writing is like being a detective, trying to crack the code and unlock its secrets. There are some languages which have been found that we still don’t understand.
One famous way an ancient code was cracked was using the Rosetta Stone. It had the same message written in two different languages and using three different scripts or alphabets. One of the messages was in Ancient Greek, which people could still read, and the other two were in Ancient Egyptian 'demotic' script and hieroglyphs. Using the Greek, scholars were able to translate both of the Egyptian inscriptions, unlocking hieroglyphs for the first time!
The Egyptians used hieroglyphs to write prayers to their gods, most famously in tombs, to help the dead on their journey to the afterlife. ‘Hiero’ is from the Greek word for ‘sacred’ and ‘glyph’ means ‘carving’. Imagine drawing little pictures to mean words or sounds instead of letters. For example: a bird symbol could either mean the sound ‘ah’ or it could actually mean a bird – making this a complicated code to crack!
Sounding it out
Sometimes, ancient alphabets have letters that look a bit like the letters we use today. By guessing the sounds, like in a puzzle, we can test them and start to figure out whole words. We are still trying to understand this amazing inscription on a stone that was excavated at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. It's difficult to understand because it's a strange mix of Cornish names written in the Latin language using both Roman and Greek letters.
Archaeologists also use other clues. Other items are often found near ancient writing, like everyday objects. These can help us guess what the writing might be about, such as labels on pots or names on tombs.
Did you know?
Deciphering ancient languages is often a big puzzle that many people work on together, sharing ideas and trying different possibilities until the message makes sense.
Secret symbols: runes
The people of early medieval England and Scandinavia used alphabets made of straight, pointy shapes called runes. They were often carved into wood or stone. It's fun to think of runes as a secret or mysterious alphabet but they weren't magic.
During the Roman period, someone or some people, in the area of modern Germany or Sweden took the Roman alphabet and adapted it to fit the letter sounds of the old German and Swedish languages. They needed to be able to cut or scratch the letters into stone or wood (rather than write them onto wax or parchment, Roman-style), so instead of the curved roman letters, runes were made up of straight lines.
When Scandinavian and German settlers came to England, they brought their language and rune alphabet, called Futhork, with them. Runes are very good for writing a few words on a stone or a coin, but they're not very good for writing a whole book. So, we eventually adopted the Roman alphabet, which we still use today.
Your turn! Can you crack the code?
When we write in English today, we use the Roman or Latin alphabet – the ABC we all learn as children! But in England from about the 5th Century, Anglo-Saxon people used runes for their carvings and inscriptions, such as on gravestones or personal items they wanted to label with their name.
We’ve written you a message using Anglo-Saxon runes from the alphabet below. Can you unlock the code and translate the message?
The Futhork rune alphabet
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