Rune translator

Elder Futhark is the alphabet of the Germanic peoples of the 2nd–8th centuries: 24 runes. Runes recorded sounds, not letters, so the translator writes by sound, as runologists do. The recipient of a letter always sees the exact text. Elder Futhark is the default; you can also choose Younger Futhark (Viking runes), the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc or medieval runes.

Words are spelled in runes by sound. It is a transcription, not a translation into Old Norse.

Make a card

A vector file for your artist, with a note on every rune.

Choose your runes

Runes record sounds, so each alphabet writes the text its own way. Tap one to use it for the translation, a letter or a tattoo stencil.

Elder Futhark

Each rune was named after a word that begins with its sound. Nobody wrote these names down in the Elder Futhark era, so they are scholarly reconstructions in Proto-Germanic (marked *), checked against the later Old English and Old Norse rune poems. Tap a rune to see where the meaning comes from.

disputed * reconstruction

Freyr’s ætt

Hagal’s ætt

Tyr’s ætt

Sources: Old English, Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems (ed. B. Dickins, 1915); Proto-Germanic reconstructions after R. I. Page and T. Looijenga. OE = Old English, ON = Old Norse, NO = Norwegian poem, IS = Icelandic poem.

How Cyrillic letters are written

а
б
в
г
д
е
ё
ж
з
и
й
к
л
м
н
о
п
р
с
т
у
ф
х
ц
ч
ш
щ
— ъ
ы
— ь
э
ю
я

How Latin letters are written

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z

Futhark had no runes for sh, ch or ts, so these sounds are written with rune pairs. Doubled sounds are written once. Digits and other scripts stay as they are.