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Languages, Study of Ancient Runes, Symbols

Rune

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At least some content in this article is derived from information featured in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery.
As such, spoilers will be present within the article.

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The topic of this article is of a real-life subject that has been mentioned "in-universe" in a canon source. The Harry Potter Wiki is written from the perspective that all information presented in canon is true (e.g., Hogwarts really existed), and, as such, details contained in this article may differ from real world facts.

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This article is about runes and runic alphabets. You may be looking for the Hogwarts subject devoted to their study.

A blackboard with ancient runes written on it

Runes are symbols representing various sound values, belonging to a runic alphabet. The runes themselves can be used both as an alphabet or as stand-in for whole words (as logograms). They were used to write various Germanic languages in North-Western Europe - including Old English - in the period 100-1100 AD. As a writing system they were used to write texts, but also to carve inscriptions in stones or other items.[1] During the Early Middle Ages many Old English inscriptions were written in runes; this caused them to be widely used by many Medieval wizards community in Great Britain. Runes are still widely used by the modern magical community,[2] and are studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry under the subject "Study of Ancient Runes".[3] Ancient runes were studied at Hogwarts in sixth year History of Magic classes during the 1989–1990 school year.[4]

Uses

Sirius Black's Azkaban placard, showing runic inscriptions

During the Early Middle Ages many famous wizards and witches (such as Merlin, the Peverell brothers and the founders of Hogwarts) very likely used runes to write in Old English. As such, runes were widely used by both the Early Medieval magical community as well as the muggle community in Great Britain. Many ancient magical items like the Hogwarts Pensieve,[5][6] and the Elder Wand, contain runic inscriptions.

Many texts in Old English were completely written using runes, for example, Albus Dumbledore's old version of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, requiring translation before mass-production for the general public.[7][8] The esoteric Quibbler magazine has been known to publish runic texts (including instructions for a spell to turn another's ears into kumquats).[9]

Runes are still widely used for administration purposes by the Ministry of Magic in Great Britain. The teachers at Hogwarts had to provide their magic rune on an evaluation form given by Dolores Umbridge. There also was a magical rune of Alastor Moody's on the file in Umbridge's office in 1998, it is possible that these features are of particular importance, and serves as a form of identification or a social security number.[10]

Known Runes

Alphabetical

Symbols in the Elder Futhark runic alphabet, with their Latin equivalents

The runes represented are used to write words in an alphabetic manner all belong to the Old English runic alphabet (also known as Elder Futhark).[2]

Personal Runes

Rune Dictionary

Various wizards are known to have their own magic rune, that they use in a manner similar to a signature to sign documents or to indicate their possession of certain objects. Possibly these personal runes are either normal runes from the Elder Futhark alphabet that spell out initials, or a composed symbol combining several runes into a new symbol. An example of such composed runes can be seen on the cover of the Runic Dictionary. It is also possible that these composed runes on the cover of the Runic Dictionary stand for whole words or often used expressions in texts.[2]

Numerical

To represent the numbers various magical creatures are used

Ancient Runes Made Easy, showing the Ancient Rune numbers

Other runes

  • Fehu (Seen on Lucius Malfoy's Azkaban placard)
  • Uruz (Seen on Lucius Malfoy's Azkaban placard)
  • Ansuz
  • Raido
  • Kaunan (Seen on Sirius Black's Azkaban placard)
  • Gebo (Seen on Sirius Black's Azkaban placard)
  • Isa
  • Teiwaz (Seen on Lucius Malfoy's Azkaban placard)
  • Berkana
  • Perth (Seen on Sirius Black's Azkaban placard)
  • Algiz (Seen on Sirius Black's Azkaban placard)
  • Sowilo
  • Ehwaz
  • Mannaz (Seen on Lucius Malfoy's Azkaban placard)
  • Laguz
  • Othila (Seen on Lucius Malfoy's Azkaban placard)
  • Dagaz
  • Eihwaz

Notable runologists

See also

Behind the scenes

  • All the runes represented in the franchise belong to the Elder Futhark runic alphabet in real life (with the exception of the numbers, which are entirely fictitious).
  • The 7 Elder Futhark runes thus far not represented in the franchise are: Thurisaz (þ a.k.a. "th"), Jera (j), Wunjo (W), Hagalaz (h), Naudiz (n) and Ingwaz (ŋ a.k.a. "ng"), though this might be because of the limited number of runic inscriptions shown in the franchise to date.
  • It is not truly known to what extent the Elder Futhark runes retain their meanings in the Harry Potter universe; One runic word on the HP&PS cover art (on Dumbledore's cloak) spells out DUMBLEDARE in Latin. However, the "A" was probably a mistake ( meant to have been an "O", Othila in runic) and so they most likely relate to the letters in the Latin alphabet the same way in the franchise as they do in real life.
  • It is possible that more than just one runic alphabet is in use in the wizarding world, albeit with some wizarding additions - such as the aforementioned numbers (given the length of study that may be allotted to their study in the Hogwarts Curriculum and the number of books on the subject). However, Elder Futhark is probably the most popular given how frequently it is seen throughout the series.
  • One of the possible questions in the Sorting quiz at Pottermore mentions that Merlin marked his possessions with a mysterious rune. Since this is just a possible answer to a hypothetical question, it is unclear if Merlin actually used this symbol as his mark in historical canon.

Appearances

External links

Notes and references

  1. ↑ WP favicon.PNG Rune on Wikipedia
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 J. K. Rowling's official site
  3. ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 14 (Cornelius Fudge)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, Year 6, Chapter 28 (Moving On) - History of Magic Lesson "Ancient Runes"
  5. ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 30 (The Pensieve)
  6. ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 24 (Occlumency)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Tales of Beedle the Bard
  8. ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 7 (The Will of Albus Dumbledore)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 10 (Luna Lovegood)
  10. ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
  11. ↑ On Pottermore, Merlin is said to have possibly had his own unique rune, called the Mark of Merlin.
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