Sources of the First Printed Scandinavian Runes

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the sources that were used for the first printed scandinavian runes. These runes appear in works published in italy between 1539 and 1555 either by or in connection with Johannes and Olaus Magnus. The books and the information about runes and runic inscriptions they contain are presented first. A closer look is then taken at the shapes of the runes used and at the roman letters they represent according to the books. it will be shown that these runes and their sound values can in part be traced back to a mediaeval runic tradition, while others were created to provide at least one rune for every roman letter. The forms of the newly “invented” runes can be explained to some extent by the influence of the shape of the roman letters they represent, whereas others were taken from a source that contained runes but did not provide any information about their sound values, namely the runic calendars.