Critical Review of the Younger Futhark: An Historically Accurate Universal Rune Set

22 December 2019, 06h19:

Summer Solstice for the Southern Hemisphere

Today is the summer solstice – where we are at the peak of summer daylight hours in the Southern Hemisphere and the peak of winter hours applies to the Northern.

This is the last edition of the Runes Series; a follow-on post from these posts:

Summer is aligned with fire, an element that seemingly dances with life and youth. We notice how the young animals born in spring begin to establish their own identities and the spring seedlings become vigorous plants. In this context we see the reduction of the Elder Futhark into the it daughter system, the Younger Futhark as it takes on a new identity in meaning and form. Thus, during this summer solstice I will discuss the last feature on runes; the daughter system of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet, the Younger Futhark (Scandinavian Runes and technically a Futhork).


The runic alphabets have become a prominent feature on my blog and my designs, mostly due to my fascination with this ancient writing script and how it can be utilized to gain wisdoms from the depth of our own souls.

I have written an critical review of the Elder Futhark and the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc as well as discussing the flow of the runic languages from both an historic and linguistic perspective. During my extensive research into the subject I have read countless literary works in an attempt to determine both the original form of the Younger Futhark as well as creating a standardized and universal set of runes. I have listed the most informative references I discovered during my research. My research has subsequently been converted into an Younger Futhark Mini Oracle deck available for purchase from my MPC online store.

Here, I would like to focus on my research process for the Younger Futhark and how I came to choose the letter, rune script and meanings for each based on the most prominent and trustworthy information from hard-to-find expert runologist and runology sources. I will group the discussions around the potential origin of the Younger Futhark, the basic alphabet structure and the sorting of conflicting rune meanings as well as the diversity of runic symbols.

Younger Futhark Runes

  • Third Oldest Runic Alphabet (800-1100 AD)
  • Direct descendant of the Germanic Elder Futhark
  • Writing System for the Old West Norse (Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian and Greenlandic Norse) and Old East Norse dialects (Old Danish, Old Swedish and Old Gutnish)
  • A set of 16 letters
  • 2x Younger Futhark Poems; namely the Icelandic (13th century) and Norwegian (15th century) as reference point for the letters and their potential meanings.

Younger Futhark Origin and Expansion

An Old Norse daughter system with a direct linguistic inheritance from the Elder Futhark, which is a Proto Germanic/Norse runic alphabet. The Elder Futhark (400 – 800 AD) existed prior to the Younger Futhark (800 – 1100 AD), which overlaps 300 years with the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (400 – 1100 AD) time frame. During this time; new languages arose between the Old Norse or Scandinavian tribes, such as Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian, Old Danish and Old Swedish… Read more in my Runic Evolution & Linguistic History eBook! Available for pre-order (publishing 03 July 2020) for Tablets, Smartphones, Kindle and KDP Select @ Amazon! Please note that the eBook will NOT be made available for free.

Runic Evolution & Linguistic History: The Origin Of The Germanic Runes & Universal Rune Sets, Kindle Edition, Amazon, All Natural Spirit

Runic Evolution & Linguistic History

“Well researched interesting from an historical archaeological perspective I wish there had been some divinitory aspects to the runes included as the the author obviously has alot of knowledge on the subject and I like the authors encouraging style of writing”

1st review Amazon by Bruno, Runic Evolution & Linguistic History Book

The Younger Futhark rune names, rune symbols and rune meaning tables provided in the book above (with links to free downloads!) can be used in conjunction with my Younger Futhark Mini Oracle Deck, which is representative of the most accurate and universal Younger Futhark alphabet and can be purchased from Make Playing Cards!


“Oh how wonderfully exciting. I have just processed the order now. The kids are learning all about Norse Mythology at the moment and are so excited to have their own set of cards to learn the symbols and at that size… perfect.

Thanks so much for being so accommodating and for making such pretty cards.” – Elder Futhark Mini Deck

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Elder Futhark Mini Oracle Deck Sample

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