Germanic Runes Essay Example

Germanic Runes Essay The Germanic peoples are usually portrayed as illiterate barbarians. Most people believe the Germanic peoples were more interested in plundering than anything else. The truth is that the Germanic peoples left behind a great number of written things. The Germanic peoples used Runes on everything from leaving a reminder for a person to common household items to stone monuments. They also used Runes to cast spells, provide protection, and tell fortunes. The Futhark is what the runic alphabet is commonly called. Futhark gets its name from thefirst six runes: f, u, th, a, r, k.Each rune represents a phonetic sound. Each rune also has a distinct meaning. Most of the meanings are derived from Germanic Mythology. No one knows exactly when Germanic Runes werefirst used, many scholars believe they were created in thefirst century AD. This was around the time when the Germanic people pushed the Romans out of Germanic areas. The Germanic Myth of the creation of the runes said that Odin hung hims elf from a tree and impaled himself with a spear. He was hung from the Tree of Life (Yggdrasil) for nine days and nine nights. He hung himself as a sacrifice to himself, thus giving him the occult of knowledge.Odin was said to have dispersed the knowledge of the runes to the various entities that inhabit the universe, among them mankind and the gods. The Germanic peoples often took the magical powers of the runes very seriously. The Rune Master was a person who could harness the supernatural powers of the runes. Rune Masters also used the runes to answer a persons question.Germanic warriors also harnessed the powers of the runes for war. Warriors would inscribe certain runes into their swords to the gods to either protect the owner of the sword, or bring pain to the sword owners enemy.