Modern Futhorc Systems Comparison

Sunday. June 16, 2024 - 7 mins

In this blog, I am going to compare 5 different systems for writing Modern English with the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc. The goal for doing so is to increase collaboration and communication across these projects and increase the possiblity of working together in the future.

1. Younger Futhorc
2. American Futharch
3. Futhorc.com
4. Rune Revival
5. Rune School (here)

I will include a first pass at a compromise as I outline each.

Consonants

sound	Younger Futhorc	American Futharch	Futhorc .com	Rune Revival	Rune School	Compromise?
/f/	ᚠ	ᚠ	ᚠ	ᚠ	ᚠ	ᚠ
/v/	ᚠ	ᛡ	ᚡ	ᚠ‍ᚠ	ᚠ‍ᚠ	ᚠ‍ᚠ
/θ/	ᚦ	ᚦ	ᚦ	ᚦ	ᚦ	ᚦ
/ð/	ᚦ	ᛨ	ᚧ	ᚦ	ᚦ	ᚦᚦ?
/r/	ᚱ	ᚱ	ᚱ	ᚱ	ᚱ	ᚱ
/tʃ/	ᚳ	ᚳ	ᛏᚳ	ᚳ	ᚳ	ᚳ
/j/	ᚷ ᛡ	ᛄ	ᛃ	ᛄ	ᛡ	ᚷ
/x/	ᛇ			ᛇ	ᚻ	ᚻ
/w/	ᚹ	ᚹ	ᚹ	ᚹ	ᚹ	ᚹ
/h/	ᚻ	ᚻ	ᚻ	ᚻ	ᚻ	ᚻ
/n/	ᚾ	ᚾ	ᚾ	ᚾ	ᚾ	ᚾ
/p/	ᛈ	ᛈ	ᛈ	ᛈ	ᛈ	ᛈ
/ks~gz/	ᛉ	ᚴᛋ	ᚴᛋ	ᛣᛋ	ᛣᛋ	ᛣᛋ
/s/	ᛋ	ᛋ	ᛋ	ᛋ	ᛋ	ᛋ ᚴ
/z/	ᛋ	ᛉ	ᛋ	ᛉ	ᛉ	ᛉ
/t/	ᛏ	ᛏ	ᛏ	ᛏ	ᛏ	ᛏ
/b/	ᛒ	ᛒ	ᛒ	ᛒ	ᛒ	ᛒ
/m/	ᛗ	ᛗ	ᛗ	ᛗ	ᛗ	ᛗ
/l/	ᛚ	ᛚ	ᛚ	ᛚ	ᛚ	ᛚ
/ŋ/	ᛝ	ᛝ	ᛝ	ᛝ	ᛝ	ᛝ
/ŋg/	ᛝ	ᛝᚷ	ᛝᚸ	ᛝ	ᛝᚸ	ᛝ
/d/	ᛞ	ᛞ	ᛞ	ᛞ	ᛞ	ᛞ
/k/	ᛣ	ᚴ	ᚴ	ᛣ	ᛣ	ᛣ
/g/	ᚸ	ᚷ	ᚸ	ᚸ	ᚸ	ᚸ
/dʒ/	ᚳᚷ	ᛥ	ᛞᛄ	ᚷ	ᚷ	ᚷᚳ
/ʒ/	ᚳᚷ	ᛯ	ᛄ	ᛉᚳ	ᛉᚳ	ᚷᚳ
/ʃ/	ᛋᚳ	ᛊ	ᚳ	ᛋᚳ	ᛋᚳ	ᛋᚳ
/ʍ/	ᚻᚹ			ᚻᚹ	ᚻᚹ	ᚻᚹ

Vowels

Lexical Set	Younger Futhorc	American Futharch	Futhorc .com	Rune Revival	Rune School	Compromise?
KIT	ᛁ	ᛁ	ᛁ	ᛁ	ᛁ	ᛁ
FLEECE	ᛠ	ᛇ	ᛁ	ᛁ	ᛇ ᛁᛡ	ᛁᚷ (ᛡ)
FACE	ᛖᚷ	ᛖᛁ	ᛖ	ᛖᛡ	ᛖᛡ	ᛖᛖ ᛖᚷ
DRESS	ᛖ	ᛖ	ᛖ	ᛖ	ᛖ	ᛖ
TRAP	ᚫ	ᚫ	ᚫ	ᚫ	ᚫ	ᛇ
fAther	ᚪ	ᚩ	ᚪ	ᚪ	ᚪ	ᚫ
LOT	ᚪ	ᚩ	ᚪ	ᚩ	ᚩ	ᚪ
THOUGHT	ᚪᚢ	ᛟ	ᚩ	ᚩ	ᚩᚩ	ᚩ
GOAT	ᚩ	ᛟᚣ	ᚩ	ᚩᚢ	ᚩᚹ	ᚩᚹ
GOOSE	ᚢ	ᚢ	ᚢ	ᚢ	ᚣᚹ	ᚢᚢ ᚢᚹ
FOOT	ᚢ	ᚣ	ᚢ	ᚢ	ᚣ	ᚢ
STRUT	ᛟ	ᛠ		ᚪ	ᚢ	ᚣ
commA		ᛠ	ᚣ	ᛟ	ᛟ	ᛟ
PRICE	ᚫᚷ	ᚫᛁ		ᚪᛡ	ᚫᛡ	ᚫᚷ
MOUTH	ᚫᚢ	ᚫᚣ		ᚣ	ᚫᚹ	ᚫᚹ
CHOICE		ᛟᛁ		ᚩᛡ	ᚩᛡ	ᚩᚷ
lettER		ᛠᚱ	ᚣᚱ	ᛟᚱ	ᛟᚱ	ᛟᚱ
NURSE	ᛖᚱ	ᛠᚱ		ᛟᚱ	ᚢᚱ	ᛠᚱ
START		ᚩᚱ		ᚪᚱ	ᚪᚱ	ᚫᚱ
NORTH		ᛟᚱ		ᚩᚱ	ᚩᚱ	ᚪᚱ
FORCE		ᛟᚱ		ᚩᚢᚱ	ᚩᚹᚱ	ᚩᚱ
mErry		ᛖᚱ		ᛖᚱ	ᛖᚱ	ᛖᚱ
mArry		ᛖᚱ		ᚫᚱ	ᚫᚱ	ᛇᚱ
SQUARE		ᛖᚱ		ᛖᚱ	ᛖᛖᚱ	ᛖᛖᚱ
NEAR	ᛁᚱ	ᛁᚱ		ᛠᚱ	ᛠᚱ ᛁᛁᚱ	ᛁᛁᚱ

Now let’s look at how the vowel runes land on the IPA vowel chart for a stronger visual comparison.

Younger Futhorc:

American Futharch:

Futhorc.com:

Rune Revival:

Rune School:

Want to try your hand at a layout? Give it a shot!

Analysis

Now just comparing sound assignments doesn’t fully explain the reasons why the creators of these systems made the choices they did. Each sound assignment has ripple effects that will change the sound assignments for other runes.

In order to really compare these choices, we need to talk about the underlying values and philosophy. For example, are we going for authenticity? Are we going for clarity of design?

I would say that American Futharch aims to be more opinionated, as a work of art. Younger Futhorc and Rune Revival aim to be more authentic. Futhorc.com and Rune School seem to aim for authenticity while also wanting something more systematic. For example, Futhorc.com and Rune School both shared the vowel+semivowel digraph for the diphthongs. And Futhorc.com even goes further and uses t+sh for the “ch” sound (very analytical).

One of the biggest decisions is whether or not to represent the commA sound (schwa). Younger Futhorc opts to not represent it. The tradeoff then is you need to be comfortable with 5 ways of writing a schwa and 3 ways of writing the NURSE vowel. It’s not terrible, but you still completely lose the sound-spelling connection.

Shared values

My primary goals for a good modern rune system would be:

1. Authenticity to the original Futhorc

I like one principle that Rune Revival adheres to. They are willing to draw from the Elder Futhark, but they won’t draw from any traditions later than the Anglo Futhorc. I find that to be an authentic compromise when thinking outside the box is needed. Another aspect of authenticity is the most common runes still being the most common in a modern system (if possible).

1. Usable for all English accents

A couple of these systems are fairly obviously designed for American English. I think a good system would work for the entire English speaking world. Because the Futhorc is the “birthright” of English everywhere.

1. Systematically satisfying

Regarding Systematics, I am speaking mostly about phonemic mergers and splits as well as historical development of sounds. Things like the FOOT-STRUT split, the COT-CAUGHT merger, etc. A good system should take these into account.

Compromise

Now what would a compromise between all of these systems look like? The authenticity of the Younger Futhorc but with an added element of a more robust… system?

After using and teaching the Rune School system, I can say that it really does feel intuitive, simple, and functional. This is because time was spent thinking about how to phonemically analyze English as a complete system. There are 7 base vowels, from which all other vowel sounds come.

What I am looking for in improvements to the Rune School system:

1. Being more functional for people with different accents

2. More authentic to the original Futhorc

Let’s try something as a way to start the conversation:

This draws on the Elder Futhark for the assignment of ᛇ. This gives us an immense benefit to representing “hell’s corner” with all similar looking runes. It also lets us distinguish TOE from TOW, PAIN from PANE, and potentially rosEs and happY. The only thing that is lost is potentially a cleanness of the system as a whole. For example, lettER is no longer grouped with commA and contrasted with NURSE-STRUT. The 7 base vowels of Rune School would be upped to 9 base vowels. And such a system has not taken into account the frequency of phonemes, either. In the original Futhorc corpus, ᚢ was extremely common, which may lead one to use ᚢ as a commA (schwa) phoneme instead. Or even merge FOOT with commA (there are no minimal pairs between these two, so it’s possible, technically).

If you designed one of these systems, or if you have your own that I have not included, please join the Rune School Discord server and we can discuss in a sort of “peer review” working group. I’ll see you there!

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