Elder Futhark Rune Transliterator
Type or paste Latin text to write it in Elder Futhark runes. Choose Pairs as one rune or Letter by letter, select a word separator, and edit the alphabet map under the tool. Unmapped letters stay in the output and are flagged. Copy the result or save it with UTF-8 .txt; Mapping .json also saves the original text and the map used. Nothing is uploaded; only your map and settings are remembered in this browser.
14 letters: 13 mapped, 1 flagged (ö)
kept as typed: 2 spaces and "!"
| B | ᛒ | U+16D2 | berkanan |
|---|---|---|---|
| j | ᛃ | U+16C3 | jeran |
| ö | ö | kept | flagged: no rune in this map |
| r | ᚱ | U+16B1 | raido |
| n | ᚾ | U+16BE | naudiz |
| th | ᚦ | U+16A6 | thurisaz, 2 letters, 1 rune |
| e | ᛖ | U+16D6 | ehwaz |
then S t r o ng !
Loading the rune font. Until it arrives, this device's own fonts draw the runes, and a font without the Runic block shows empty boxes.
Worked examples
- ᚨ U+16A8, ᚠ U+16A0, ᚦ U+16A6, ᛜ U+16DC, as the published map declares
- ᛒᛃöᚱᚾ: ö kept as typed and flagged, 4 of 5 letters mapped
- ᚨᛊᚲ,᛫ᚦᛖᚾ᛫ᚷᛟ. and the mapping file rebuilds Ask, then go. with its comma, spaces and full stop
The map: 29 entries
Every entry the page applies. With Pairs as one rune, entries of two or three letters, such as th, ng and ei, are read before single letters, longest first and left to right; with Letter by letter they are skipped. Capitals use the same runes as small letters. A letter no entry covers is flagged and kept as typed: add it below, such as ö or æ, to give it a rune. The map is kept in this browser.
| Latin | Runes | Code points | Unicode 17.0.0 name | Note | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | ᚨ | U+16A8 | RUNIC LETTER ANSUZ A | ||
| b | ᛒ | U+16D2 | RUNIC LETTER BERKANAN BEORC BJARKAN B | ||
| c | ᚲ | U+16B2 | RUNIC LETTER KAUNA | stand-in: no c rune, written as k | |
| d | ᛞ | U+16DE | RUNIC LETTER DAGAZ DAEG D | ||
| e | ᛖ | U+16D6 | RUNIC LETTER EHWAZ EH E | ||
| f | ᚠ | U+16A0 | RUNIC LETTER FEHU FEOH FE F | ||
| g | ᚷ | U+16B7 | RUNIC LETTER GEBO GYFU G | ||
| h | ᚺ | U+16BA | RUNIC LETTER HAGLAZ H | ||
| i | ᛁ | U+16C1 | RUNIC LETTER ISAZ IS ISS I | ||
| j | ᛃ | U+16C3 | RUNIC LETTER JERAN J | ||
| k | ᚲ | U+16B2 | RUNIC LETTER KAUNA | ||
| l | ᛚ | U+16DA | RUNIC LETTER LAUKAZ LAGU LOGR L | ||
| m | ᛗ | U+16D7 | RUNIC LETTER MANNAZ MAN M | ||
| n | ᚾ | U+16BE | RUNIC LETTER NAUDIZ NYD NAUD N | ||
| o | ᛟ | U+16DF | RUNIC LETTER OTHALAN ETHEL O | ||
| p | ᛈ | U+16C8 | RUNIC LETTER PERTHO PEORTH P | ||
| q | ᚲ | U+16B2 | RUNIC LETTER KAUNA | stand-in: written as k | |
| r | ᚱ | U+16B1 | RUNIC LETTER RAIDO RAD REID R | ||
| s | ᛊ | U+16CA | RUNIC LETTER SOWILO S | ||
| t | ᛏ | U+16CF | RUNIC LETTER TIWAZ TIR TYR T | ||
| u | ᚢ | U+16A2 | RUNIC LETTER URUZ UR U | ||
| v | ᚹ | U+16B9 | RUNIC LETTER WUNJO WYNN W | stand-in: written as w | |
| w | ᚹ | U+16B9 | RUNIC LETTER WUNJO WYNN W | ||
| x | ᚲᛊ | U+16B2 U+16CA | RUNIC LETTER KAUNA + RUNIC LETTER SOWILO S | stand-in: written as k and s | |
| y | ᛃ | U+16C3 | RUNIC LETTER JERAN J | stand-in: written as j | |
| z | ᛉ | U+16C9 | RUNIC LETTER ALGIZ EOLHX | ||
| th | ᚦ | U+16A6 | RUNIC LETTER THURISAZ THURS THORN | 2 letters, 1 rune | |
| ng | ᛜ | U+16DC | RUNIC LETTER INGWAZ | 2 letters, 1 rune | |
| ei | ᛇ | U+16C7 | RUNIC LETTER IWAZ EOH | 2 letters, 1 rune |
Accuracy. A modern letter-for-rune approximation in the Elder Futhark, written with Unicode's Runic characters: it is not a translation into Old Norse and not a historically certain spelling of any name. Each letter or pair follows the map shown on this page, which you can edit, and letters the map does not cover, such as ö, are kept as typed and flagged. How the runes look depends on the font drawing them; the copied text and the UTF-8 file hold the same code points either way.
Common questions
- Does this translate English into Old Norse runes?
- No. It changes English spelling into runic characters; it does not translate the words into Old Norse. With the supplied map, the becomes ᚦᛖ from the th and e entries, regardless of the word's meaning. Names follow the same letter map.
- How are c, q, v, x and y written in Elder Futhark?
- The supplied map uses c and q as ᚲ (k), v as ᚹ (w), x as ᚲᛊ (k and s), and y as ᛃ (j). These are modern stand-ins, shown in the map. To change y, type y under Add or change an entry, pick ᛁ with the rune buttons and press Save entry. Then y is written as ᛁ.
- How are th, ng and ei handled?
- With the supplied map and Pairs as one rune, th is ᚦ thurisaz, ng is ᛜ ingwaz, and ei is ᛇ, U+16C7, named RUNIC LETTER IWAZ EOH by Unicode. The longest matching entry is read first from left to right: thing becomes ᚦᛁᛜ and being becomes ᛒᛇᛜ. A pair never joins across a space or punctuation. Letter by letter ignores pair entries, so thing becomes ᛏᚺᛁᚾᚷ.
- What happens to letters like ö, é or ß?
- They are kept exactly as typed and flagged: marked in the runes, and listed under the text and in the Flagged cell, the first eight by name and the rest counted. To give one a rune, add it to the map, for example ö as ᛟ. Capitals use the same entry as small letters, and a letter typed as a base letter and a combining mark, such as o followed by U+0308, matches the same entry as ö.
- Why do I see empty boxes instead of runes?
- The runes are drawn with Noto Sans Runic, a font this page serves, and the page checks whether it loaded and says so under the tool. Where it has not loaded, your device's own fonts draw the runes, and a device with no font for the Runic block shows empty boxes. The text is still the right Unicode characters: Copy and the .txt file carry the same code points, which show as runes wherever a font with the Runic block is installed, though the shapes differ from font to font.
- What goes between words in runic text?
- Choose it under Between words: Space keeps each space as typed, ᛫ writes U+16EB RUNIC SINGLE PUNCTUATION in place of each space, and ᛬ writes U+16EC RUNIC MULTIPLE PUNCTUATION. Tabs, line breaks, digits and punctuation such as commas and full stops are always kept as typed, so with ᛫ chosen, Ask, then go. becomes ᚨᛊᚲ,᛫ᚦᛖᚾ᛫ᚷᛟ.
- What is in the Mapping .json file?
- The convention, the separator, every map entry applied with its code points, the text as typed, the runes, and every piece in order: the text it came from, what it became, and whether it was mapped, flagged, kept as typed, a space, or an unpaired surrogate written as U+FFFD. Joining the from of every piece gives back your text exactly, spaces, line breaks and punctuation included.
- Which rune alphabet does this use?
- The supplied map uses the 24 Elder Futhark runes. There are no supplied Younger Futhark, Anglo-Saxon or fictional-alphabet presets. Editing individual entries changes your character map; it does not add a language translator or historical spelling rules.
- Can I translate runes back into English?
- No. Pasted runes are kept as typed; there is no reverse-reading mode. The map also loses spelling distinctions: c, q and k all become ᚲ in the supplied map. Mapping .json retains your original text, but the page does not import or decode that file.
- How do I copy and paste or download the runes?
- Press Copy to put the result on the clipboard, then paste it into a text field. If clipboard access is blocked, select the runes and use your device's copy control. UTF-8 .txt downloads runes.txt, and Mapping .json downloads runes-mapping.json. These save your output; they do not install an app. A destination font needs Runic characters to display the runes.
A modern letter-for-rune approximation in the Elder Futhark, written with Unicode's Runic characters: it is not a translation into Old Norse and not a historically certain spelling of any name. Each letter or pair follows the map shown on this page, which you can edit, and letters the map does not cover, such as ö, are kept as typed and flagged. How the runes look depends on the font drawing them; the copied text and the UTF-8 file hold the same code points either way.