People kept asking about those Viking letters in my tattoo, so last Thursday night I said screw it – time to really figure out what runes are all about. Grabbed my phone first, obviously, and just started punching stuff into Google. “Norse runes meaning” came up like a zillion times.
Getting Stuck In The Weeds
Fell down the biggest rabbit hole ever. One website said one thing about a rune, the next site said something totally different. Like, which one is it? Had like 15 tabs open on my laptop too. Found this ancient looking book online preview – pages were all yellowed in the scan. Tried reading it but man, the writing was so old-timey and hard to get through. Gave up after like two paragraphs. Should’ve started simpler.
Cutting Through The Noise
Switched gears Friday morning. Went way more basic. Ignored all the magic stuff for a second. Focused on the facts everyone actually agrees on:
- The Big Three Families: Looked it up – yeah, there’s three main sets. Older Futhark with 24 symbols, Younger Futhark with 16 (used when the Vikings were sailing everywhere), and the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc which is even bigger. Always get them mixed up!
- ABCs First, Magic Maybe Later: Almost everyone who knows their stuff says this loud and clear. Runes started as letters, plain and simple. Vikings used ‘em to carve names on stuff, mark territory, maybe tag “Bjorn owns this” on a knife handle. The whole “magic power” thing? Looks like that came later. Didn’t realize that.
- More Than Just A Symbol: Found out each rune has a name, and that name has a meaning. Like Fehu means “cattle” but stood for wealth because cows were money back then. It’s not just the shape, but the word and idea behind it that mattered.
- Getting Names Right Is Hard: Seriously tried learning the actual names. Fell flat on my face. Fehu? Uruz? Thurisaz?? Practiced saying them out loud and felt like I was choking. Who knew these names were so gnarly? Need way more practice.
Testing Out What I Learned
Saturday came and I needed to see if any of this stuck. Pulled out an old notebook and tried to write my name using the rune shapes for the sounds. Kept messing up the symbols for “S” and “T” – they look too similar! Made a real mess of the page. Then took my younger cousin’s name, “Erik,” and tried that. Slightly less of a disaster. Still looked wonky. Definitely understand now why people specialize in this.
Biggest takeaway hitting me? Everyone throws runes around for tattoos and merch and TV shows like Vikings. Most people, me included before this week, just don’t know the basic facts! They started as letters. The names are crazy hard. And that “magic” symbol stuff? That’s the complicated icing people added way later. Feels good to finally get the foundation straight.
