Pseudo-runes

Pseudo-runes are glyphs that look like Germanic runes but are not true runes. The term is mostly used of incised characters that are intended to imitate runes, often visually or symbolically, sometimes even with no linguistic content, but it can also be used to describe characters of other written languages which resemble runes, for example: Old Turkic script, Old Hungarian script, Old Italic scripts, Ancient South Arabian script.

Runestone U 835 [sv], a late medieval attempt at making an 11th-century looking runestone, featuring rune-looking pseudo-symbols of no meaning, probably due to the creator not knowing runic.

The term "pseudo-runes" has also been used for runes "invented" after the end of the period of runic epigraphy, used only in medieval manuscripts but not in inscriptions. It has also been used for unrelated historical scripts with an appearance similar to runes, and of modern Latin alphabet variants intended to be reminiscent of runic script.

Historical runes

Cipher runes

Main article: Cipher runes

Cross-arm cipher runes (Swedish: korsarmsrunor) on the Rök runestone.

Cipher runes are cipher systems used as a replacement of standard runes but which do have an intended reading. These are generally not called pseudo-runes but can fit the definition.

Manuscript-only runes

The term pseudo-rune has been used by R. I. Page to refer to runic letters that only occur in manuscripts and are not attested in any extant runic inscription. Such runes include cweorð ᛢ, stan ᛥ, and ior ᛡ. The main variant shape of the rune gér is identical to ᛡ (with ᛄ being a secondary variant of ger), and should not be confused for ior when found epigraphically.^[1][2] The age of these "manuscript-only" runes overlaps with the period of runic inscriptions, e.g. cweorth and stan are both found in the 9th-century Codex Vindobonensis 795.

The view of calling manuscript-only runes "pseudo-runes" is not shared by historical or modern runologists, since runes are defined as characters for writing, not strictly for inscriptions,^[3] reflecting historical usage.

Unhistorical runes

Armanen runes

Main article: Armanen runes

The Armanen runes

Of a different type are the pseudo-runes invented in the modern period, such as the unhistorical Armanen runes, or Armanen Futharkh, created by Guido von List in 1902 and later authors of Germanic mysticism (e.g. Gibor, Hagal, Wendehorn).^[4]

The following Armanen runes have their own articles:

• Hagal (Armanen rune)
• Wendehorn

SS runes

Main article: SS runes

SS runes

SS runes (German: SS-runen) are rune-like symbols originally used by the German Nazi paramilitary organisation SS (Schutzstaffel) as esoteric insignia during World War II. They were inspired by Guido von List's Armanen runes (see above), which had been used by Nazis prior.

SS runes were mainly used decoratively as symbols and were not viable for writing, even if they sometimes were used in writing as ideograms.

Pseudo-bindrunes

In modern paganism, new age and neopagan witchcraft (among others), the practice of combining various historical runes (mainly Elder runes), then under new made up meaning, and other rune-like symbols, into larger symbols of magical, symbolic or esoteric value, erroneously called "bindrunes", has been observed. They often follow the principle of "samestave runic" (Swedish: samstavsrunor, "same-stave-runes"), were they are stacked on top of each other so that a main vertical stave can connect them all, which is mainly done for aesthetic reasons. Other examples connect the runic staves in various unconventional ways, sometimes even with added aesthetic staves with no rhyme or reason.

• 
  "Web of Wyrd", a modern day symbol first appearing in Helrunar: A Manual of Rune Magick (1993, Mandrake of Oxford), by German occultist Jan Fries.
• 
  Logotype of Norwegian "dark/pagan folk band" Wardruna in the background, an example of an unconforming neopagan pseudo-bindrune.

Icelandic magical staves (galdrastafir)

Main article: Icelandic magical staves

Icelandic magical staves (Icelandic: galdrastafir, lit. 'galdr staves') can be called a form of pseudo-rune due to them erroneously being called runes or bind-runes by some people due to their appearance and connection to Iceland.^[5]

• 
  Ægishjálmr in the Galdrabók (ca. 1600)
• 
  Vegvísir in the Huld Manuscript (ca. 1860)

Imitation runes

Non-lexical inscriptions

Reverse of Ædwen's brooch, an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon silver disc brooch with seven pseudo-runes on a silver strip in the centre

The main use of the term pseudo-rune is in reference to epigraphic inscriptions using letters that imitate the appearance of runes, but which cannot be read as runes.^[6] These are different from cryptic or magical runic inscriptions comprising a seemingly random jumble of runic letters, which cannot be interpreted by modern scholars, but can at least be read. In contrast, pseudo-runic inscriptions consist mostly of false letters (some pseudo-runes within a pseudo-runic inscription may coincidentally appear similar or identical to true runes), and so cannot be read at all, even nonsensically.^[7]

It has been suggested that pseudo-runic inscriptions were not made by specialist 'rune masters' as is thought to have been the case when carving traditional runic inscriptions, but were made by artisans who were largely ignorant of runes.^[8] According to Nowell Myres, pseudo-runes may have been "intended to impress the illiterate as having some arcane significance".^[9]

Uppland Runic Inscription 1175

In Swedish runology, such are called "nonsense inscriptions [sv]" (nonsensinskrifter), or "non-lexical inscriptions" (icke-lexikala inskrifter), which are runic inscriptions with imitation runes or illiterate text.

The following inscriptions have been marked as such:

• Närke Runic Inscription 19
• Södermanland Runic Inscription 93
• Södermanland Runic Inscription 225
• Södermanland Runic Inscription 261
• Danish Runic Inscription 187 (Sørup runestone) – also proposed to have been written in Basque language
• Uppland Runic Inscription 483
• Uppland Runic Inscription 487
• Uppland Runic Inscription 888
• Uppland Runic Inscription 1061
• Uppland Runic Inscription 1175
• Uppland Runic Inscription 1179
• Uppland Runic Inscription 1180
• Östergötland Runic Inscription 137

Fantasy scripts

Example of Cirth preudo-runes

A common trait in modern high fantasy it the creation of fantasy scripts for different fantasy languages and cultures. Many notable such are heavily inspired by historical runes and may be indistinguishable to the untrained eye. One of the instigators for such scripts was J. R. R. Tolkien, who used both historical runes in his works, and invented his own fantasy runic script called Cirth, which can further be divided into subgroups like Gondolinic runes.

Tolkien mainly used Cirth for Khuzdûl, the language of the Dwarves, and various fantasy IP:s have followed this pattern, such as Dethek, the script of the Dwarvish language, and some others, in Wizards of the Coast's Forgotten Realms setting, for the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons,^[10] and Klinkarhun, likewise the script of the Dwarvish language Khazalid, in Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy-setting.^[11]

Runiform scrips

"Runiform" redirects here. For the similar term, see Reniform.

Runiform generally refers to historic scripts which are written with glyphs that are similar in form to runic script. The historical runiform Old Turkic script and Old Hungarian script, unrelated with the runes but similar in application (inscriptions etched in stone), have sometimes been referred to as pseudo-runes or pseudo-runic,^[12] The probably predesessor of Runic, Old Italic scripts, also share its likeness, as well as many characters.

The following scripts could be referred to as runiform:

• Ancient South Arabian script
• Coelbren y Beirdd
• Old Hungarian alphabet
• Old Italic scripts
  • Etruscan alphabet
• Old Turkic alphabet
• Pre-Christian Slavic writing
• Siglas poveiras

Ogham can also be mentioned on a basis of Germanic stone-carved languages, albeit completely different looking.

See also

• Bind runes
• Calendar runes
• House marks
• List of runestones
• Pseudo-Kufic – Imitations of Arabic in European Middle Ages and Renaissance art