Futhork

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  futharc \fu"tharc\, futhorc \fu"thorc\, futhork \fu"thork\n.
     1. [From the sounds of the first five letters.] The Runic
        alphabet; -- so called from the first six letters f, u,
        [thorn] (th), o (or a), r, c (=k). See {rune}. [Also
        spelled {futhark}]
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]


  
     Note: The spelling futharc represents most accurately the
           original values of these six Runic letters.
           [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     Note: The name is derived from the sounds of the first five
           letters of the runic alphabet, f, u, th, o, r, and c.
           The vowel sound of the fourth letter corresponded more
           closely to a in the earlier versions used in
           Scandinavian countries, and the earlier alphabet is
           therefore referred to as the futharc or futhark. The
           fifth rune had a sound like that of k, and in the
           Danish futhark the fifth character is that
           transliterated as k. Thus the runic alphabet is also
           called the futhork or futhark. The third rune had a
           sound and form resembling that of the Anglo-Saxon
           thorn, which represented the th sound at the beginning
           of the word thorn. The origins of the runic alphabet
           are obscure, but the earliest forms may have been
           invented around the second century A.D. in eastern
           Europe. The forms of some of the letters show a
           relation to the Latin or Greek alphabets, and the
           futhorc was presumably in part an adaptation of those
           alphabets to the sound of the Germanic tongues. An
           inscription of the futhark itself, an ordered list of
           the runes, was found on an object dated as early as the
           fifth century A.D. The Scandinavian futharc had 16
           runes, but the futhorc used in Anglo-Saxon England had
           31. The futhark was mostly used for writing on wood,
           for which reason the runes were comprised of only
           vertical and diagonal strokes. The degree of widespread
           use of the futharc is not known but it was probably
           used mostly for short messages or inscriptions on
           objects. Fewer than 10,000 runic inscriptions, both on
           wood and stone, have been found. The number and forms
           of some of the runes varied over time and locality.
           --R. I. Page, "Runes".
           [PJC]
  
                 The letters are called Runes and the alphabet
                 bears the name Futhorc from the first six
                 letters.                           --I. Taylor.
           [Webster 1913 Suppl.]