Cirth

TheCirth(Sindarin pronunciation:[ˈkirθ],meaning "runes";sg.certh[ˈkɛrθ]) is a semi‑artificial script,based on real‑liferunic Alpha bets,one ofseveral scripts inventedbyJ. R. R. Tolkienfor theconstructed languageshe devised and used in his works.Cirthis written with a capital letter when referring to thewriting system;the letters themselves can be calledcirth.

Cirth
The word "Cirth" written using the Cirth in the Angerthas Daeron mode
Script type	Alphabet
Creator	J. R. R. Tolkien
Direction	Varies
Languages	Khuzdul,Sindarin,Quenya,Westron,English
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Cirt(291),​Cirth

In the fictional history ofMiddle-earth,the originalCerthaswas created by theSindar(or Grey Elves) for their language,Sindarin.Its extension and elaboration was known as theAngerthas Daeron,as it was attributed to the Sinda Daeron, despite the fact that it was most probably arranged by theNoldorin order to represent the sounds of other languages likeQuenyaandTelerin.

Although it was later largely replaced by theTengwar,the Cirth was nonetheless adopted by theDwarvesto write down both theirKhuzdullanguage (Angerthas Moria) and the languages ofMen(Angerthas Erebor). The Cirth was also adapted, in its oldest and simplest form, by various races including Men and evenOrcs.

External history

Concept and creation

Rock carving in Cirth in theSydney Harbour National Park,dating back to the 1980s at least

Many letters have shapes also found in the historicalrunic Alpha bets,but their sound values are only similar in a few of the vowels. Rather, the system of assignment of sound values is much more systematic in the Cirth than in the historical runes (e.g., voiced variants of a voiceless sound are expressed by an additional stroke).

The division between the older Cirth of Daeron and their adaptation by Dwarves and Men has been interpreted as a parallel drawn by Tolkien to the development of the Fuþorc to theYounger Fuþark.The original Elvish Cirth "as supposed products of a superior culture" are focused on logical arrangement and a close connection between form and value whereas the adaptations by mortal races introduced irregularities. Similar to the Germanic tribes who had no written literature and used only simple runes before their conversion to Christianity, the Sindarin Elves of Beleriand with their Cirth were introduced to the more elaborate Tengwar of Fëanor when the Noldorin Elves returned to Middle-earth from the lands of the divineValar.

Internal history and description

Certhas

In the Appendix E toThe Return of the King,Tolkien writes that theSindarofBeleriandfirst developed anAlpha betfor their language some time between the invention of theTengwarbyFëanor(YT1250) and the introduction thereof toMiddle-earthby the ExiledNoldorat the beginning of theFirst Age.

This Alpha bet was devised to represent only the sounds of theirSindarinlanguage and its letters were mostly used for inscribing names or brief memorials on wood, stone or metal, hence their angular shapes and straight lines.InSindarinthese letters were namedcirth(sing.certh), from the Elvishroot*kir-meaning "to cleave, to cut".Anabecedariumofcirth,consisting of the runes listed in due order, was commonly known asCerthas([ˈkɛrθɑs],meaning "rune-rows" in Sindarin and loosely translated as "runic Alpha bet").

The oldestcirthwere the following:

Consonants	p	b	mh	m
	t	d	n
	k	g	ng
	r	l	~hors	sorh	ss
Vowels	i	u	e	o

The form of these letters was somewhat unsystematic, unlike later rearrangements and extensions that made them morefeatural.Thecirthandwere used for⟨h⟩and⟨s⟩,but varied as to which was which.Many of the runes consisted of a single vertical line (or "stem" ) with an appendage (or "branch" ) attached to one or both sides. If the attachment was made on one side only, it was usually to the right, but "the reverse was not infrequent" and did not change the value of the letter.(For example, the variantsorspecifically mentioned forhors,alsoorfort,etc.).

Angerthas Daeron

In Beleriand, before the end of theFirst Age,theCerthaswas rearranged and further developed, partly under the influence of theTengwarintroduced by the Noldor. This reorganisation of the Cirth was commonly attributed to theElfDaeron,minstreland loremaster of KingThingolofDoriath.Thus, the new system became known as theAngerthas Daeron(where "angerthas"[ɑŋˈɡɛrθɑs]is from Sindarin"an(d)"[ɑn(d)]+ "certhas"[ˈkɛrθɑs],meaning "long rune-rows").

In this arrangement, the assignment of values to eachcerthis systematic. The runes consisting of a stem and a branch attached to the right are used forvoicelessstops,while other sounds are allocated according to the following principles:

1. adding a stroke to a branch addsvoice(e.g.,[p]→[b]);
2. moving the branch to the left indicates opening to aspirant(e.g.,[t]→[θ]);
3. placing the branch on both sides of the stem addsvoice and nasality(e.g.,[k]→[ŋ]).

Thecirthconstructed in this way can therefore be arranged into series, each corresponding to aplace of articulation:

• labial consonants,based on;
• dental consonants,based on;
• front consonants,based on;
• velar consonants,based on;
• labialized velar consonants,based on.

Other letters introduced in this system include:andfor⟨a⟩and⟨w⟩,respectively; runes forlong vowels,evidently originated by doubling andbindingthecerthof the corresponding short vowel (e.g.,⟨oo⟩→⟨ō⟩);twofront vowels,probably stemming from ligatures of the correspondingback vowelwith the⟨i⟩-certh(i.e.,→⟨ü⟩,and→⟨ö⟩);somehomorganic nasal + stop clusters(e.g.,[nd]).

Back to the fictional history, since the new-seriesand-seriesencompass sounds which do not occur in Sindarin but are present inQuenya,they were most probably introduced by the ExiledNoldorwho spoke Quenya as a language of knowledge.

By loan-translation, the Cirth became known in Quenya asCertar[ˈkɛrtar],while a singlecerthwas calledcerta[ˈkɛrta].

After the Tengwar became the sole script used for writing, theAngerthas Daeronwas essentially relegated to carved inscriptions. The Elves of the West, for the most part, abandoned the Cirth altogether, with the exception of the Noldor dwelling in the country ofEregion,who maintained it in useand made it known asAngerthas Eregion.

Note:In this article, the runes of theAngerthascome with the same peculiartransliterationused by Tolkien in the Appendix E, which differs from the (Latin) spelling of both Quenya and Sindarin. TheIPAtranscription that follows is applicable to both languages, except where indicated otherwise.

Regularly formedcirth

Labial consonants	Certh
	Transliteration		p	b	f	v	m[i]	mh, mb
	IPA		[p]	[b]	[f]	[v]	[m]	(S.)[ṽ] (Q.)[mb]
Dental consonants	Certh							or
	Transliteration		t	d	th	dh	n	nd[ii]
	IPA		[t]	[d]	[θ]	[ð]	[n]	[nd]
Front consonants[iii]	Certh
	Transliteration		ch[iv]	j[v]	sh[vi]	zh	nj[vii]
	IPA	(N.)	[c⁽ȷ̊⁾]	[ɟj]	[ç]	[ʝ]	ɟ[ɲj]←[ɲɟj]
		(V.)	[t͡ʃ]	[d͡ʒ]	[ʃ]	[ʒ]		[nd͡ʒ]
Velar consonants	Certh
	Transliteration		k	g	kh	gh	ŋ	ng
	IPA		[k]	[ɡ]	[x]	[ɣ]	[ŋ]	[ŋɡ]
Labiovelar consonants	Certh
	Transliteration		kw	gw	khw	ghw	nw[viii]	ngw
	IPA	(Q.)	[kʷ₍w̥₎]	[ɡʷw]	[ʍ]	[w]	[nʷw]←[ŋʷw]	[ŋɡʷw]

Additionalcirth

Consonants	Certh					or
	Transliteration	r	rh	l	lh	s	ssorz[ix]	h[x]
	IPA	[r]	[r̥]	[l]	[l̥]	[s]	[sː]or[z]	[h]
Approximants	Certh
	Transliteration		w	hw[xi]
	IPA		[w]	[ʍ]
Vowels	Certh
	Transliteration	i, y	u		e	a	o
	IPA	[i],[j]	[u]		[e]	[a]	[o]
Long vowels	Certh						or
	Transliteration		ū		ē	ā	ō
	IPA		[uː]		[eː]	[aː]	[oː]
Fronted vowels	Certh		or				or
	Transliteration		ü				ö
	IPA		[y]				[œ]

Notes:

1. ^According to the principles outlined above, the labial nasal would be assigned to thecerth.However, archaic Sindarin had two labial nasals: theocclusive[m],and thespirant[ṽ](spelt⟨mh⟩). Since the⟨mh⟩sound could best be represented by a reversal of the sign for⟨m⟩(to indicate itsspirantization), the reversiblewas given the value⟨m⟩,andwas assigned to⟨mh⟩.The sound[ṽ]merged with[v]in later Sindarin.
2. ^Thecerthwas not clearly related in shape to the dentals.
3. ^The-series,which represents the front consonants of Quenya, is essentially the Cirth counterpart to the Tengwartyelpetéma(column III in theGeneral Use).
   In this article, eachcerthof this series comes with twoIPAtranscriptions. The reason is that these consonants are realised aspalatalsin Noldorin Quenya, but aspostalveolarsin Vanyarin Quenya. Although theAngerthas Daeronwas devised for the Noldorinvariety,it is deemed necessary to show the Vanyarin pronunciation as well, given that the very transliteration used by Tolkien is more akin to the Vanyarinphonology.
4. ^Thecerthindicates Quenya⟨ty⟩,which is pronounced[c^⁽ȷ̊^⁾]in Noldorinbut is avoiceless postalveolar affricate[t͡ʃ]in Vanyarin.
5. ^Thecerthrepresents Quenya⟨dy⟩,formerly pronounced[ɟj].
6. ^Thecerthstands for Quenya⟨hy⟩,which is avoiceless palatal fricative[ç]in Noldorinand avoiceless postalveolar fricative[ʃ]in Vanyarin.
7. ^Thecerthdenotes Quenya⟨ndy⟩,formerly pronounced[ɲɟj].In Noldorin, this cluster was laterreducedto⟨ny⟩(articulated as[ɲj]). On the other hand, in Vanyarin, the cluster underwentassibilation,turning into[nd͡ʒ].
8. ^Thecerth,much like thetengwa"ñwalme", formerly represented Quenya⟨ñw⟩(pronounced[ŋʷw]), occurring only in initial position. This sound later evolved into[nʷw],explaining the transliteration of thiscerthas⟨nw⟩.Non-initial occurrences of[nʷw]are most probably interpreted as⟨n⟩+⟨w⟩(i.e., two separatecirth).
9. ^Thecerth,the theoretical value of which is⟨z⟩,is instead used as⟨ss⟩in both Quenya and Sindarin (cf. thetengwa"esse" / "áze" ).
10. ^The newcerthwas introduced for⟨h⟩:it is similar in shape both to thecerth(formerly used for⟨h⟩,then reassigned to⟨ty⟩) and to thetengwa"hyarmen".
11. ^Thecerth,the theoretical value of which was⟨m⟩,was used for Sindarin⟨hw⟩for the reasons stated above(cf. thetengwa"hwesta sindarinwa" ).

Angerthas Moria

According toTolkien's legendarium,theDwarvesfirst came to know the runes of the Noldor at the beginning of theSecond Age.The Dwarves "introduced a number of unsystematic changes in value, as well as certain new cirth".They modified the previous system to suit the specific needs of their language,Khuzdul.The Dwarves spread their revised Alpha bet toMoria,where it came to be known asAngerthas Moria,and developed both carved and pen-written forms of these runes.

Many cirth here represent sounds not occurring in Khuzdul(at least in published words of Khuzdul: of course, our corpus is very limited to judge the necessity or not, of these sounds). Here they are marked with a black star (^★).

Certh	Translit.	IPA'	Certh	Translit.	IPA	Certh	Translit.	IPA'	Certh	Translit.	IPA
	p	/p/★					l	/l/		e	/e/
	b	/b/		z	/z/		lh	/ɬ/★		ê	/eː/
	f	/f/		k	/k/		nd	/nd/		a	/a/
	v	/v/★		g	/ɡ/		h[A]	/h/		â	/aː/
	hw	/ʍ/★		kh	/x/★		ʻ[A]	/ʔ/		o	/o/
	m	/m/		gh	/ɣ/★		ŋ	/ŋ/★	or	ô	/oː/
	mb	/mb/		n	/n/		ng	/ŋɡ/	or	ö	/œ/★
	t	/t/		kw	/kʷ/★	or	nj	/ndʒ/★		n	/n/
	d	/d/		gw	/ɡʷ/★		i	/i/		s	/s/
	th	/θ/★		khw	/xʷ/★		y	/j/	or	[B]	/ə/
	dh	/ð/★		ghw	/ɣʷ/★		hy	/j̊,ç/★	or	[B]	/ʌ/
	r	/ʀ,ʁ,r/		ngw	/ŋɡʷ/★		u	/u/
	ch	/tʃ,c/★		nw	/nʷ/★		û	/uː/
				j	/dʒ,ɟ/★		w	/w/★		+h[C]	/◌ʰ/
	sh	/ʃ/		zh	/ʒ/★	or	ü	/y/★		&[D]

Notes:

A.	^The Khuzdul language has twoglottal consonants:/h/and/ʔ/,the latter being "theglottalbeginning of a word with an initial vowel ".Thus, in need of a reversible certh to represent these sounds,andwere switched, giving the former the value/s/and using the latter for/h/,and its reversed counterpartfor/ʔ/.
B.	^These cirth were a halved form of,used for vowels like those in the word⟨butter⟩/ˈbʌtə/.Thus,represented a/ə/sound in unstressed syllables, whilerepresented/ʌ/,a somehow similar sound, in stressed syllables. When weak they were reduced to a stroke without a stem (,).
C.	^This letter denotesaspirationin voiceless stops, occurring frequently in Khuzdul askhandth.
D.	^This certh is ascribal abbreviationused to represent aconjunction,and is basically identical to theampersand⟨&⟩used inLatin script.

Runes in the upper inscription ofBalin's tomb useAngerthas Moria,reading left-to-right:

Balin
Fu[nd]inul
UzbadKʰazaddûmu

InAngerthas Moriathe cirth/dʒ/and/ʒ/were dropped. Thusandwere adopted for/dʒ/and/ʒ/,although they were used for/r/and/r̥/in Elvish languages. Subsequently, this script used the certhfor/ʀ/(or/ʁ/),which had the sound/n/in the Elvish systems. Therefore, the certh(which was previously used for the sound/ŋ/,useless in Khuzdul) was adopted for the sound/n/.A totally new introduction was the certh,used as an alternative, simplified and, maybe, weaker form of.Because of the visual relation of these two cirth, the certhwas given the sound/z/to relate better withthat, in this script, had the sound/s/.

Angerthas Erebor

At the beginning of theThird Agethe Dwarves were driven out of Moria, and some migrated toErebor.As the Dwarves of Erebor would trade with the Men of the nearby towns ofDaleandLake-town,they needed a script to write inWestron(thelingua francaof Middle-earth, usually rendered in English by Tolkien in his works). TheAngerthas Moriawas adapted accordingly: some new cirth were added, while some were restored to their Elvish usage, thus creating theAngerthas Erebor.

While theAngerthas Moriawas still used to write down Khuzdul, this new script was primarily used for Mannish languages. It is also the script used in the first and third page of theBook of Mazarbul.

Certh	Translit.	IPA	Certh	Translit.	IPA	Certh	Translit.	IPA	Certh	Translit.	IPA
	p	/p/		zh	/ʒ/		l	/l/		e	/e/
	b	/b/		ks	/ks/
	f	/f/		k	/k/		nd	/nd/		a	/a/
	v	/v/		g	/ɡ/		s	/s/
	hw	/ʍ/		kh	/x/					o	/o/
	m	/m/		gh	/ɣ/		ŋ	/ŋ/
	mb	/mb/		n	/n/		ng	/ŋɡ/	or	ö	/œ/
	t	/t/		kw	/kʷ/					n	/n/
	d	/d/		gw	/ɡʷ/		i	/i/		h	/h/
	th	/θ/		khw	/xʷ/		y	/j/	or		/ə/
	dh	/ð/		ghw	/ɣʷ/		hy	/j̊/or/ç/	or		/ʌ/
	r	/r/		ngw	/ŋɡʷ/		u	/u/		ps	/ps/
	ch	/tʃ/		nw	/nʷ/		z	/z/		ts	/ts/
	j	/dʒ/		g	/ɡ/		w	/w/		+h	/◌ʰ/
	sh	/ʃ/		gh	/ɣ/	or	ü	/y/		&

Angerthas Erebor also featurescombining diacritics:

• acircumflexused to denotelong consonants;
• amacron belowto indicate along vowelsound;
• anunderdotto mark cirth used asnumerals.As a matter of fact, in the Book of Mazarbul some cirth are used as numerals:for 1,for 2,for 3,for 4,for 5.

The bottom inscription ofBalin's tomb is written in English using theAngerthas Erebor.It reads left-to-right: "Balin sʌn ov Fu[nd]in lord ov Moria"

TheAngerthas Ereboris used twice inThe Lord of the Ringsto write in English:

1. in the upper inscription of the title page, where it reads "[dh]ə·lord·ov·[dh]ə·riŋs·translatᵊd·from·[dh]ə·red·b[oo]k'... "(the sentence follows in the bottom inscription, written in Tengwar:"... of Westmarch by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Herein is set forth/ the history of the War of the Ring and the Return of the King as seen by the Hobbits. ");
2. in the bottom inscription ofBalin's tomb—being the translation of the upper inscription, which is written in Khuzdul usingAngerthas Moria.

The Book of Mazarbul shows some additional cirth used inAngerthas Erebor:one for a double⟨l⟩ligature,one for thedefinite article,and six for the representation of the same number of Englishdiphthongs:

Certh	English spelling
∗	⟨ll⟩
∗	⟨the⟩[A]
∗	⟨ai⟩,⟨ay⟩
∗	⟨au⟩,⟨aw⟩
∗	⟨ea⟩
	⟨ee⟩
	⟨eu⟩,⟨ew⟩
∗	⟨oa⟩
	⟨oo⟩
	⟨ou⟩,⟨ow⟩

Notes:

A.	^This certh is ascribal abbreviationused to represent the definite article. Although in English it stands for⟨the⟩,it can assume different values according to the used language.
∗.	^The cirth marked with an asterisk are unique toAngerthas Erebor.

Other runic scripts by Tolkien

The Cirth is not the only runic writing system used by Tolkien inhislegendarium.In fact, he devised a great number of runic Alpha bets, of which only a few others have been published. Some of these are included in the "Appendix on Runes" ofThe Treason of Isengard(The History of Middle-earth,vol. VII), edited byChristopher Tolkien.

Runes fromThe Hobbit

According to Tolkien himself, those found inThe Hobbitare a form of "English runes" used in lieu of the Dwarvish runes proper.They can be interpreted as an attempt made by Tolkien to adapt theFuþorc(i.e., theOld Englishrunic Alpha bet) to theModern Englishlanguage.

These runes are basically the same found in Fuþorc, but their sound may change according to their position, just like the letters of theLatin script:the writing mode used by Tolkien is, in this case, mainly orthographic.This means that the system has one rune for each Latin letter, regardless of pronunciation.For example, the rune⟨c⟩can sound/k/in⟨cover⟩,/s/in⟨sincere⟩,/ʃ/in⟨special⟩,and even/tʃ/in the digraph⟨ch⟩.

A few sounds are instead written with the same rune, without considering the English spelling. For example, the sound/ɔː/is always written with the runewhether in English it is spelt⟨o⟩as in⟨north⟩,⟨a⟩as in⟨fall⟩,or⟨oo⟩as in⟨door⟩.The only two letters that are subject to this phonemic spelling are⟨a⟩and⟨o⟩.

Finally, some runes stand for particular English digraphs and diphthongs.

Here the runes used inThe Hobbitare displayed along with their Fuþorc counterpart and corresponding English grapheme:

Rune	Fuþorc	English grapheme		Rune	Fuþorc	English grapheme
	ᚪ	phonemic[i]			ᚱ	⟨r⟩
	ᚫ				ᛋ	⟨s⟩
	ᛒ	⟨b⟩			ᛏ	⟨t⟩
	ᚳ	⟨c⟩			ᚢ	⟨u⟩,⟨v⟩
	ᛞ	⟨d⟩			ᚹ	⟨w⟩
	ᛖ	⟨e⟩			ᛉ	⟨x⟩
	ᚠ	⟨f⟩,⟨ph⟩			ᚣ	⟨y⟩
	ᚷ	⟨g⟩			ᛣ	⟨z⟩[iii]
	ᚻ	⟨h⟩			ᚦ	⟨th⟩
	ᛁ	⟨i⟩,⟨j⟩			ᛠ	⟨ea⟩
	ᛱ[ii]	⟨k⟩			ᛥ	⟨st⟩
	ᛚ	⟨l⟩			ᛟ	⟨ee⟩
	ᛗ	⟨m⟩			ᛝ	⟨ng⟩
	ᚾ	⟨n⟩			ᛇ	⟨eo⟩
	ᚩ	phonemic[i]			ᛳ[ii]	⟨oo⟩
	ᛈ	⟨p⟩			ᛲ[ii]	⟨sh⟩

Notes:

1. ^This table summarises the transcription of English⟨a⟩and⟨o⟩in runes:

English grapheme	Sound value (IPA)	Rune
⟨a⟩	/æ/
	every other sound
	/ɔː/
⟨o⟩	every sound
⟨oo⟩	/ɔː/
	every other sound

2. ^The three runes,,andwere invented by Tolkien and are not attested in real-life Fuþorc.
3. ^According to Tolkien, this is a "dwarf-rune" which "may be used if required" as an addendum to the English runes.
4. Tolkien commonly writes theEnglish digraph⟨wh⟩(pronounced[ʍ]in somevarietiesof English) as⟨hw⟩.
5. There is no rune to transliterate⟨q⟩:the digraph⟨qu⟩(representing the sound[kʷw],like in⟨queen⟩) is always written as⟨cw⟩,reflecting theAnglo-Saxon spelling⟨cƿ⟩.

Gondolinic runes

Not all the runes mentioned inThe Hobbitare Dwarf-runes. The swords found in theTrolls' cave bore runes thatGandalfcould not read. In fact, the swordsGlamdringandOrcrist(which were forged in the ancient kingdom ofGondolin) bore a type of letters known asGondolinic runes.They seem to have become obsolete and been forgotten by theThird Age,and this is supported by the fact that onlyElrondcould still read the inscriptions on the swords.

Tolkien devised this runic Alpha bet in a very early stage of his shaping of Middle-earth. Nevertheless, they are known to us from a slip of paper that Tolkien wrote; his sonChristophersent a photocopy of it to Paul Nolan Hyde in February 1992. Hyde published it, with an extensive analysis, in the 1992 Summer issue ofMythlore,no. 69.

The system provides sounds not found in any of the knownElvish languagesof theFirst Age,but perhaps it was designed for a variety of languages. However, the consonants seem to be, more or less, the same found inWelsh phonology,a theory supported by the fact that Tolkien was heavily influenced byWelshwhen creating Elvish languages.

Consonants

	Labial			Dentals									Palatal			Dorsal			Glottal
	Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA
Plosive		p	/p/					t	/t/								k (c)	/k/
		b	/b/					d	/d/								g	/ɡ/
Fricative		f	/f/		þ	/θ/		s	/s/		š	/ʃ/					χ	/x/		h	/h/
		v	/v/		ð	/ð/		z	/z/		ž	/ʒ/
Affricate											tš (ch)	/t͡ʃ/
											dž (j)	/d͡ʒ/
Nasal		m	/m/					n	/n/								ŋ	/ŋ/
		(mh)	/m̥/					χ̃	/n̥/?								(ŋh)	/ŋ̊/
Trill								r	/r/
								rh	/r̥/
Lateral								l	/l/
								lh	/ɬ/
Approximant														j (i̯)	/j/		w (u̯)	/w/
																	ƕ	/ʍ/

Vowels

Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA	Rune		IPA
	a	/a/		e	/ɛ/		i	/i/		o	/ɔ/		u	/u/
	ā	/aː/		ē	/eː/		ī	/iː/		ō	/oː/		ū	/uː/
	æ	/æ/								œ	/œ/		y	/y/
	ǣ	/æː/								œ̄	/œː/		ȳ	/yː/

Encoding schemes

Unicode

Equivalents for some (but not all) cirth can be found in theRunic blockofUnicode.

Tolkien's mode of writing Modern English in Anglo-Saxon runes received explicit recognition with the introduction of his three additional runes to the Runic block with the release of Unicode 7.0, in June 2014. The three characters represent the English⟨k⟩,⟨oo⟩and⟨sh⟩graphemes, as follows:

• U+16F1ᛱRUNIC LETTER K
• U+16F2ᛲRUNIC LETTER SH
• U+16F3ᛳRUNIC LETTER OO

A formalUnicodeproposal to encode Cirth as a separate script was made in September 1997 byMichael Everson. No action was taken by the Unicode Technical Committee (UTC) but Cirth appears in the Roadmap to the SMP.

ConScript Unicode Registry

Cirth (inPrivate Use Area)
Range	U+E080..U+E0FF (128 code points)
Plane	BMP
Scripts	Artificial Scripts
Major Alpha bets	Cirth
Assigned	109 code points
Unused	19 reserved code points
Source standards	CSUR
Note:Part of Private Use Area; possible conflicting fonts

UnicodePrivate Use Arealayouts for Cirth are defined at theConScript Unicode Registry(CSUR)and theUnder-ConScript Unicode Registry(UCSUR).

Two different layouts are defined by the CSUR/UCSUR:

• 1997-11-03 proposalimplemented by fonts likeGNU Unifontand Code2000.
• 2000-04-22 discussion paperimplemented by fonts like Constructium and Fairfax.

Without proper rendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbolsbelow instead of Cirth.

Cirth(1997)[1][2] ConScript Unicode Registry 1997 code chart

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+E08x

































U+E09x

































U+E0Ax

































U+E0Bx

































U+E0Cx

































U+E0Dx

































U+E0Ex



























U+E0Fx

Notes 1.^As of 1997-11-03 version (differs from2000-04-22 proposal) 2.^Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Cirth(2000)[1][2] ConScript Unicode Registry 2000 proposal

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+E08x

































U+E09x

































U+E0Ax

































U+E0Bx

































U+E0Cx

































U+E0Dx

































U+E0Ex

























U+E0Fx

Notes 1.^As of 2000-04-22 proposal (differs from1997-11-03 version) 2.^Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

• List of runestones