Lesson 7 - ᚢᚣᚷ

The rune for J as in Jack is .

🇬🇧 ᚷᚩᚾ
🇺🇸 ᚷᚫᚫᚾ

John

ᚷᛁᚸᛚᛄ

jiggly

ᚸᚫᚷᛁᛏ

gadget

The “u” sound in English has a long and sordid history, but to make a long story short, the sound in “foot” and the sound in “strut” are cousins. For this reason, the two runes for these sounds look similar.

The rune for the vowel sound in foot is .

ᛈᚣᛚ

pull

ᛒᚣᛚ

bull

ᚹᚣᛚ

wool

ᛣᚣᛣᛒᚣᛣ

cookbook

ᛈᚣᛏ

put

Putting at ᚱ after this rune is a bit tricky. Many accents merge this phoneme into others. So don’t worry if these spellings are hard for you to figure out.

ᛣᛡᚣᚱ

cure

ᚱᚣᚱᛟᛚ

rural

The rune for the vowel sound in strut is .

ᛈᚢᛏ

putt

ᚷᚢᛗᛈ

jump

ᛏᚢᛒ

tub

🇬🇧 ᚢᛈ᛫​ᚩᚾ
🇺🇸 ᚢᛈ᛫​ᚩᚩᚾ

up on

This “strut” sound is more open than the sound in “foot”. And notice that ᚢ looks more visually open than ᚣ.

If you pronounce “foot” and “strut” in the same way, don’t worry. The visual similarity between the two should make it easier to read for others if you switch these runes around.

The rune combination for the vowel sound in goose is ᚣᚹ.

ᛒᚣᚹᛗ

boom

ᛈᚣᚹᛚ

pool

Notice again that when an L sound comes after a W or Y sound, there is some “commA” sound that is often inserted. Not always, but you might hear it. It’s normal.

ᛣᚣᚹᛚ

cool

ᛚᚣᚹᛟᚱ

lure

ᚷᚣᚹᛚ

jewel

ᚻᚫᚹ᛫​ᛞᚣᚹ᛫​ᛡᚣᚹ᛫ᛞᚣᚹ?

How do you do?

What happens when you put an ᚱ after ᚢ?

ᚹᚢᚱᛣ

work

ᚢᚱ is the sound in the word “nurse”.

ᚸᚢᚱᛚ

girl

ᚷᚢᚱᛗ

germ

ᚹᚢᚱ

were

In some accents, ᛟ(ᚱ) and ᚢ(ᚱ) sound the same. Just keep in mind that “commA” and “lettER” (ᛟ) are not stressed. If the sound is stressed, it is “strut” or “nurse” (ᚢ).

Think of ᛟ as quieter because it is visually tied shut at the bottom ᛟ. When you emphasize this sound, it visually unties and opens up ᚢ!

ᚢᚱᛒᛟᚾ

urban

ᚢᚾᛚᚢᚱᚾ

unlearn

ᚢᚱᛒᛟᚾ

urban

This “NURSE” sound in English comes from multiple different paths. You’ll see it spelled -ur-, -ir-, -er-, etc. because these words used to be pronounced more like those spellings.

Latin Older English pronunciations Modern English pronunciations
first ᛁᚱ ᚢᚱ
burn ᚢᚱ ᚢᚱ
herb ᛖᚱ ᚢᚱ

This system has essentially merged ᛖᚱ and ᛁᚱ into ᚢᚱ.

If you wish to spell these words according to their old phonemes, you are free to do that. The system taught in this school allows for that. However, we will continue spelling this “NURSE” phoneme according to modern pronunciations for the remainder of this course.

ᛋᛈᚢᚱ

spur

ᚢᚱᛒᛟᚾ

urban

ᚻᛡᚣᚹᛗᛟᚾ

human

Side quest

We have up to now been assuming that all users would want to write the ᚱ rune even if they don’t pronounce it. For sure, it is best to write the ᚱ if you want to be understood by all accents. But what if you’re just writing casually to friends and want to show your own accent?

To have a bit of fun, read aloud the text of the accent that you do not have. See if you can figure out the word :)

🇬🇧 ᚫᚫ
🇺🇸 ᚫᚫᚱ

are

🇬🇧 ᚩᚩ
🇺🇸 ᚩᚱ

or / ore / awe (if you're British)

🇬🇧 ᛣᚫᚫ
🇺🇸 ᛣᚫᚫᚱ

car

🇬🇧 ᛣᚩᚩ
🇺🇸 ᛣᚩᚱ

core / caw (if you're British)

🇬🇧 ᚹᚩᚩᚾ
🇺🇸 ᚹᚩᚱᚾ

warn / worn

🇬🇧 ᛁᛗᛈᛚᚩᚩ
🇺🇸 ᛁᛗᛈᛚᚩᚱ

implore

🇬🇧 ᛋᛣᚹᛖᛖ
🇺🇸 ᛋᛣᚹᛖᛖᚱ

square

If you want to write ᚢᚱ without the ᚱ, then just double up the ᚢ rune.

🇬🇧 ᚾᚢᚢᛋ
🇺🇸 ᚾᚢᚱᛋ

nurse

🇬🇧 ᛋᛏᚫᚫᛏ᛫ᛗᛁᛡ᛫ᚢᛈ
🇺🇸 ᛋᛏᚫᚫᚱᛏ᛫ᛗᛁᛡ᛫ᚢᛈ

start me up