Runology

For the social phenomenon in China derived from the English word "run", seeRun (meme).

Children being taught a runic Alpha bet (1555), fromOlaus Magnus'sHistoria de gentibus septentrionalibus

Runologyis the study of theRunic Alpha bets,Runic inscriptions, and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch ofGermanic linguistics.

History

Runology was initiated byJohannes Bureus(1568–1652), who was interested in the linguistics of theGeatishlanguage(Götiska språket), i.e.Old Norse.However, he did not look at the runes as merely an Alpha bet, but rather something holy or magical.

The study of runes was continued byOlof Rudbeck the Elder(1630–1702) and presented in his collectionAtlantica.ThephysicistAnders Celsius(1701–1744) further extended the science of runes and traveled around Sweden to examine thebautastenar(megaliths,today termedrunestones). Another early treatise is the 1732RunologiabyJón Ólafsson of Grunnavík.

The sundry runic scripts were well understood by the 19th century, when their analysis became an integral part of theGermanic philologyandhistorical linguistics. Wilhelm Grimmpublished hisÜber deutsche Runenin 1821, where among other things he dwelt upon the "Marcomannic runes"(chapter 18, pp. 149–159). In 1828, he published a supplement, titledZur Literatur der Runen,where he discusses theAbecedarium Nordmannicum.

Sveriges runinskrifterwas published from 1900. The dedicated journalNytt om runerhas been published by the "Runic Archives" of the Museum of Cultural History at theUniversity of Oslofrom 1985. TheRundataproject, aiming at a machine-readable catalogue of runic inscriptions, was initiated in 1993.

See also

• Bautil
• List of runestones
• List of runologists
• Runic transliteration and transcription
• Sveriges runinskrifter