Runes are an ancient writing system, much like our
modern alphabet, yet they also have always been far more
than that. They may have started as sounds and ideas rather
than the means for spelling words. There are four major
divisions in rune alphabets: the Elder Futhark, the Anglo -
Frisian Futhore, the Young Futhark, and the Armanen Futhork.
The most widespread of these, and the one that I will be
referring to herein is the Elder Futhark, also refereed to
as the futhark. The futhark alphabet was named by the sounds
of the first six staves (letters), "f - u - th - a - r- k".
There are many theories on the historical origins of
the futhark alphabet and it's use as a writing system in the
Germanic dialects. Of these theories there are centrally
four that should be looked into; the Latin theory, the Greek
theory, the North - Italic theory, and the domestic
L. F. A. Wimmer first stated the Latin theory on 1874.
This theory is that as the Germanic peoples came into
contact with the Roman culture the Roman alphabet was
adapted and put to use by the Germans. The means by which
the system spread would have been trade routs, yet the
oldest evidence of the Futhark is not found near the Roman
lines but in the distant northern and eastern borders of
In 1899 Sophus Bugge first put forth the Greek theory
which looks more to the east for the origins of the Futhark
"Goths adapted a version of the Greek cursive
script during a period of contact with Hellenic culture
along the Black Sea, from where it was transmitted back to
the Scandinavian homeland of the Goths."1
The North - Italic theory presumes that the Germanic
people living in the Alps adopted the North - Italic script
at an early date, perhaps as early as 300 B. C. There is an
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