The hidden Symbolism of European Alphabets Joannes Richter (jwr47)
Abstract From the very beginning I knew the most important letter had been the Yod, which also had been given the central position of an axis inside the alphabet. The alphabet had been designed as a well-thought concept by starting at a central foundation focus, which has been expanded to the end with dedicated terminal vowels to the left and right. I understood this concept of alphabetic expansions also might have used the vowels as synthesizing blocks for the linguistic fundamentals, especially for the prominent classes gods, personal pronouns of the 1st person and words for eternity, law, scripture, matrimony, etc. . Some variants of the runic alphabets contain integrated phrases for the three Germanic sky-gods (“Wuth-an”, “Thuw”, “Thor” - “þor”) and/or personal pronouns of the 1 st person singular (“Æ”, “IA”), respectively dual (“ƿiþ” or “ƿuþ”).
The Runic Alphabet The runic alphabets have been found in various shapes, which may be explained by experienced investigators. Compared to the Roman and Greek alphabets the runic alphabets are relatively young, which makes them valuable if some of the original concepts may have been conserved in their structure. Inherited alphabets such as the runic alphabet always seem to have been extended with important symbols, which could not be provided by the predecessor alphabet. Therefore each alphabet should be containing • •
a central core which has been used by all predecessor alphabets and surrounding add-on elements which had been missing in the predecessor alphabets.
My main source for the interpretation of runic symbols is Udo Waldemar Dieterich, who wrote his Runen-Sprach-Schatz1 in1844. He starts by explaining the Scandinavian Runic Alphabet by noting that the letter O had been added later and is relatively young.
1: Scandinavian Runic Alphabet in Runen-Sprach-Schatz
Þor, Þuƿ, Ƿuþan and Ƿuþ The identification of the sky-god Thor (þor) What struck me was the sky god's name “Thor” (“þor”) in the Scandinavian Runic Alphabet in Runen-Sprach-Schatz. Although Runen-Sprach-Schatz lists the name “Thor” (“þor”) as “Thur” (“þur”) there are a number of “þor”-words referring to “þur”, which suggests that the “o”-vowel is equivalent to the “u”-vowel.
2: Thor's name in the Runic Alphabet in Runen-Sprach-Schatz
1 Runen-Sprach-Schatz oder Wörterbuch über die ältesten Sprachdenkmale Skandinaviens
According to the author Dieterich the very first character “F” of the “Futhork”-alphabet also had been used for “W”, which allowed me to exchange the “Futhork”-alphabet into “Wuthork”alphabet. This allows us to also identify the personal pronoun of the first person dual Wit (ƿit) and the sky-god Tuw (Þuƿ).
The identification of the personal pronoun of the first person dual Wuth (ƿuth) Interpreting the first letter as a “W” there was another word to be identified as “Wut” or “Wit”, the personal pronoun of the first person dual (“both of us”) in Old Dutch2. In English this personal pronoun of the first person dual ("we both" or "we two") is written ƿit3 and maybe the alphabet even had to be understood as “Ƿuthork” or “Ƿuþork”-alphabet.
The identification of Wuthan (Ƿuthan) Woden or Wutan was the sky-Father of wuth (ƿuth → “both of us”), which might allow us to interpret Woden (Wuth-an) as the father god or ancestor for the human creature “man” (“Mannus”). The naming of convention Wuth-an may be compared to IOU-piter's image.
The identification of Tuw (Þuƿ) Originally the divine name Þuƿ (“Thuw” or the Dutch sky-god “Tuw” 4) may be found in the alphabet by reading the first 3 characters x backward (and interpreting the first character as a “w”: “Futhork”-alphabet into “Wuthork”).
Identifying all three prominent Germanic deities (Woden, Thor & Tiw) This insight allows us to identify and derive all three prominent Germanic deities (Woden, Thor, Tiw) which had been listed in the days of the week (Woden in Wednesday, Thur in Thursday, Tiw in Tuesday) form only a few characters at the very beginning of the “Wuthork”-alphabet. In fact we may even remove the letter “k” which cannot be involved in the naming conventions. The name “Futhork” may even be reduced to “'Wuthor'-alphabet”.
2 Vergeten woorden | Taaldacht 3 Old English/Pronouns - First person 4 Vergeten woorden | Taaldacht
The Scandinavian Ego-pronoun The Scandinavian Ego-pronoun varies between æ, eg and jeg. The runic description may have been restricted to IAK. In many western, northern and southwestern Norwegian dialects and in the western Danish dialects of Thy and Southern Jutland, æ has a significant meaning: the first person singular pronoun I. It is thus a normal spoken word and is usually written æ when such dialects are rendered in writing5. Additionally Æ is a common Scandinavian ego-pronoun6, e.g. in the Danish dialect from Fjolde (Germany).
Dieterich's entries Dieterich documents a runic inscription AI, which seems to be unexplained. However AI may be related to eternity, law, matrimony (AIFIK):
3: Dieterich's entry for the runic words AI (unknown) and AIFIK (eternity)
5 Æ in Other Germanic languages 6 Æ in Anders Bjerrum and Marie Bjerrum (1974), Ordbog over Fjoldemålet, Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag.
The runic final symbol “R-finale” (Aur, Yr, Stupmadr) Dieterich also explains the last alphabetical symbol as a runic final symbol “R-final” (Aur, Yr, Stupmadr) and a “famous” Sanskrit vowel7:
4 Dieterich's entry for the runic final symbol “R-finale” (Aur, Yr, Stupmadr) This letter “R” seemed to be a trailing element for the alphabet and as a trailer or vowel for singular words.
Staveless runes In his work Dieterich also explains how without the O-symbol the simplified staveless runic alphabet is grouped around a central stave “I” which splits the alphabet in two symmetrical sections, each of which contains 6 consonants and one vowel. The left wing contains a “U” and the right wing an “A”. According to Dieterich the three vowels I, U and A are considered as the original core-vowels.
5: staveless runes (simplified)
6: staveless runes (enhanced versions)
7 Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gothischen Sprache" by Diefenbach, Lorenz, 1806-1883
The Röker runic inscription The same structure of the central vowel “i” is found in the Röker runic inscription, which more or less suggests the same structural design of 6 symbols (f-u-th-oa-r-k) at the left wing, a central (h-ni-a-s) section with a central “i” and a 5 elements long (t-b-m-l-R)-section at the right wing (terminated by the R-Stupmadr):
7: Röker runic inscription from Ludvig Wimmer – die Die Runenschrift (1887)
Remarkable observations in the “futhork”-structure This study results in a number of remarkable observations in the “futhork”-structure: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The “futhork”-structure reveals a prominent center symbol as a vowel “I” “Futhork” may as well be interpreted as “Wuthork”. The word “Thor” (“þor”) is read from the “futhork”-structure. The name “Tyr” or “Tiw” had its own rune “T”. The name “Wuthan” may be related to the dual personal pronoun “wuth” (“both of us”) Wuthoark's initial word “wuth” as a personal pronoun of the first person dual ("we both" or "we two") which in Old-English is written ƿit. 7. The name “Tuw” (Þuƿ) may be read backwards from the 3 initial characters “wuth”. 8. A Scandinavian ego-pronoun may be traced as an alphabetical word “IA” or “Æ” 9. A runic trailer symbol “R-finale” (Aur, Yr, Stupmadr) and a “famous” Sanskrit vowel. These symbolic elements are to be compared to similar or equivalent observations in other alphabets.
Say goodbye to Wodan's “anger” We also will have to say goodbye to Wotan's anger. Obviously Wotan's “Wuth”-root refers to the personal pronoun of the 1st person dual “wut” (“we both”), which may be found in “forgotten words” (Vergeten woorden | Taaldacht) in the W-section.
The English runic alphabet Old English was first written in runes, using the futhorc – a rune set derived from the Germanic 24-character elder futhark, extended by five more runes used to represent AngloSaxon vowel sounds, and sometimes by several more additional characters. The English language needed an extra four Anglo-Saxon letters, which had to be added to the Roman alphabet: • • •
The “æ”-sound (ash), which is used for elementary definitions such as law, scripture, marriage, eternity. In runes law, scripture, marriage, eternity is written as “Aifik”. The “W”-sound (ƿ in ƿit) in the form of the wynn (“uu” or “w”) for the personal pronouns “wut” or “wit”. The “Θ”-sounds þ (thorn) and ð (eth), which in Middle English had been replaced by “th”.
Some of these important letters þ (thorn) , which were used in the most sacred words, are found in the leading section. Others such as æ (“æsc”).are located in the trailing section of the futhorc alphabet8.
8: The runic alphabet used to write Old English before the introduction of the Latin alphabet Contains all 34 runes in the Anglo-Saxon Fuþorc, their names, meanings, and values in the Latin alphabet - derivative work: Rursus (talk) Anglosaxonrunes-editable (public domain) 8 The runic alphabet used to write Old English before the introduction of the Latin alphabet
The Roman Alphabet The early Roman Alphabet The early Latin Roman alphabet had been inherited from the Etruscan alphabet and contained the letters A-D-E-F-H-I-K-M-N-O-S-V9, which also may be structured as follows:
A
-D-E-F-H-
I
-K-M-N-O-S-
V
The alphabet clearly begins and terminates with the vowels A & V, whereas in the long vowel coding system the central I is a special vowel. Latin language lost its symmetrical vowel structure at the introduction of the specific Greek letters Y and Z (146 BC).10 The modern alphabet starts with a vowel, but terminated in a consonant Z.
The classical Roman Alphabet The classical Latin Roman alphabet A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-(J)-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-V-X-Y-Z The Etruscan language had no use for a /g/-sound and applied the letter C for /k/, which made the letter K obsolete for the Romans. Therefore the letter G had been occupied and could not be used. That's why the Romans invented the G by adding a stroke to the C.
Diacritics Religious insight required long vowels for the words with highest priority. Short vowels were considered as minor symbols. Latin started with 5 vowels A, E, I, O, U. The primary diacritic was the apex used to mark long vowels, which had previously been written double. However, in place of taking an apex, the letter i was written as a long I-vowel.11 Therefore the long I-vowel probably marked the highest rank in the vowel collection of religious symbols.
9: Diacritics for the standard 5 long vowels A, E, I, O, U in Latin
9 The Story of Writing: Alphabets, Hieroglyphs & Pictograms by Andrew Robinson) (1995) page 170 10 Encryption and Decryption of the Alphabetical Hieroglyphs 11 Eternity - a Pre-Thales-Root for Western Philosophy
The Claudian letters During his term as censor (47-48AD) the Roman Emperor Claudius suggested to enrich the Roman alphabet with 3 so-called Claudian letters. Suetonius commented the Claudius' letters: 1. Ↄ or ↃϹ/X (antisigma), 2. Ⅎ, a turned F or digamma (digamma inversum) – as a consonant V to inhibit the U/Vconfusion. 3. Ⱶ, a half H, probably the so-called sonus medius between I and U. as follows: Besides this he [Claudius] invented three new letters and added them to the alphabet, maintaining that they were greatly needed; he published a book on their theory when he was still in private life, and when he became emperor had no difficulty in bringing about their general use. These characters may still be seen in numerous books, in the [state] registers, and in inscriptions on public buildings.[4] Later the U/V-confusion had been eliminated by the introduction of the letter “U”. The role of the the so-called sonus medius was to be managed by the introduction of the Greek letter Y.
Frederick III's device A-E-I-O-U. Initially the ideal alphabets seem to have been designed for symmetrical arrangements of 5 vowels in a pattern A, E, I, O, U around the central vowel “I”. An ancient version of the arrangement uses 3 vowels in a pattern A, I, U respectively A, I, Ω around the central vowel “I”. The pattern A, E, I, O, U is equivalent to Frederick III's device A-E-I-O-U.
The Greek Alphabet The early Greek Alphabet The early Greek Roman alphabet had been inherited from the Phoenician alphabet and contained the letters A-Β-Γ-Δ-Ε-(F12)-Ζ-H-Θ-I-Κ-Λ-Μ-Ν-O-Π-(M13)-(Q14)-Ρ-Σ-Τ15, which for clarity also may be structured as follows: A -Β-Γ-Δ- Ε -(F)-Ζ- H -Θ- I -Κ-Λ-Μ-Ν- O -Π-(M)-(Q)-Ρ-Σ-Τ16 This alphabet also contains a central “I”-element and an initial vowel A, but lacks the long terminating vowel Ω. Instead the O-micron may have provided the OO- and (?) OU-sounds.
The classical Greek Alphabet The classical Greek alphabet also provides a central vowel I, a beginning vowel A and a terminal vowel Ω, which is required for the long vowel sounds OO or OU. The symbolic structure is: A -Β-Γ-Δ- Ε -(F)-Ζ- H -Θ- I -Κ-Λ-Μ-Ν- O -Π-Ρ-Σ-(Τ)- Υ -Χ- Ω in which the long vowels are H – Ω and the short vowels are Ε - O.
The loss of the symmetrical vowel structure in the Greek Alphabet Greek language may have lost its symmetrical vowel structure at the introduction of the long vowels H and Ω (6th century BC)17. It would have been easy to terminate the alphabet with a Υ instead of the Ω. The Υ however is restricted to special cases and cannot be used for all linguistic conditions.
12 13 14 15 16 17
digamma san qoppa The Story of Writing: Alphabets, Hieroglyphs & Pictograms by Andrew Robinson) (1995) page 170 In Latin symbols: A-B-C-D-E-(F)-Z-H-Th-I-K-L-M-N-O-P-(M)-(Q)-Q-R-S-T Encryption and Decryption of the Alphabetical Hieroglyphs
Divine names as series of vowels The basic trinity concepts may also be expressed by the leading trinity vowels ΙΑΩ in the 7-fold ΙΑΩΟΥΗΕ (Jehovah), suggesting some expansion phases in which the concepts had been evolving by adding vowels in a sequence, following a pattern: I, IA, IAU or ΙΑΩ respectively ιαω18, IAUA, IEOUA, IHEHOUA, ΙΑΩΟΥΗΕ.. 19 Some series of vowels even extended the 7 vowels ΙΑΩΟΥΗΕ. Extreme samples of these series have been found in the magical papyri for the Mithras liturgy20. Of course all alphabets with vowels allow these names to be synthesized from the available vowels.
The synthesis of words from the alphabetical set of vowels The most important words to be generated from vowels are (1) Gods, (2) Ego-pronouns and (3) words for eternity, law, scripture, etc.. The divine vowel names synthesized from vowels covered both Jahweh (IEUE) and Jupiter (IOUE). IU is an alternative 2-vowel root for IEUE (Jeve), IOUE (Jove), -- IOU-piter's core (Jupiter). The root IU also refers to just, justice, judge, Jew, etc. Although this similarity between IEUE (Jeve), IOUE (Jove) earlier had been documented the subject had been buried by the Church: Some of the documents seem to refer to the similarity of the vowel cores of the Hebrew and the Roman names. According to Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) numerous Hebrew scholars believed that the name Iehoua had been derived from the name Ioue (Jupiter) converting into Ioua and subsequently to Iehoua. This however has been rejected by archbishop Gilbert Génébrard (in his book written in 1568 to defend the Trinity). He attacked the form Ioua used by Chateillon 21 reminding that St Augustine had explained according to the writer Varro that the Jews had worshiped Ioue (Jupiter!), and that the use of Ioua was thus a return to paganism. He proposed the verbal form Iehue or Iihue for the divine name corresponding to the Aramaic yihweh, rather than Iehoua, the usual Hebrew name. This should be sufficient to deny any correlation between Jupiter and Iehoua22. Also most of the personal pronouns of the 1 st person singular (iau, ieu, ious, je, ja, yo, io, I, æ….) may be synthesized from the vowels or are vowels.
18 19 20 21 22
The Seven Temples of Harran - Explaining the vowel symbols in ΙΑΩ Notes to Sefer Yetzirah The Vowels AEEIOYO in the Mithras Liturgy | Jehovah | Tetragrammaton Sebastian Castellio or Chateillon - Castellio decided to translate the Bible into his native French Source: The Name Of God Yehowah. Its Story, By Gerard Gertoux (quoted from The Vowels in the Divine Name(s))
The synthesis of words from the runes The following runes have been copied from the dictionary Runen-Sprach-Schatz23 (1844) composed by Udo Waldemar Dieterich. One of the important words is „Thu“ (English: “thou”), which is to be read backwards (from the right to the left) from „Futhark“. Apart from the 3 sky-gods (Vut, Tuw, Thor) the most important word seems to be „FuþiR“ (“food”, “childbirth”, “fat”, “copulation”). Dieterich's samples include food, to feed, to bear children, fatten → fat, sheath, vagina, vulva, pudenda, private parts. These words signify the archaic character of the vocabulary.
Another type of words are the „Wit“-definitions, which concentrate on wisdom, knowledge, law and justice, vows, witness, oaths and other important social structures. A third group is derived from the „IA“-vowels, in which we may identify the ego-pronouns æ and I as synonyms for eternity, law (aye, ǣ(w) and matrimony). The following table uses yellow markers for the derivation mechanism in the Futhork row, such as for „Thor“ (þor): f u þ o r k h n i a s t b m l ʀ. In this paper the initial symbol „F“ in the Futhark-runes is interpreted as a „Digamma“ letter which in the Punic alphabet had been defined as the letter Waw (symbolizing „W“) and subsequently also representing the F-, V- , U- and Y-sounds. This rune may have been carrying these phonemes from the archaic beginnings of the runic traditions. 23 Runen-Sprach-Schatz oder Wörterbuch über die ältesten Sprachdenkmale Skandinaviens
Words generated from the “f u þ ą r k h n i a s t b m l ʀ” – alphabetic structure Runic roots Long-branch runes Younger Futhark
Linguistic source
Derived word
English
Source / remark
Thor
Thor
Sky-god (Thursday)
Old-Dutch
Vut (Wut-an)
Woden
Sky-god (Wednesday)
Old-Dutch
Tuw
Tue, Tiw, Tyr
Sky-god (Tuesday)
Dutch
voedsel
food
Dutch
vod
bottom
Dutch
foedraal (van fóðr. = scabbard foedraal, schede) vagina
Dutch (from Old Dutch: to make love
foeteren
to rage
vuþąrkhniast bmlʀ
English
thou
you
Personal pronoun
wiþąrkhniast bmlʀ
Old-English
wit
we two
Personal pronoun
Old-Frisian
wit
we two
Oudfries Woordenboek
English
wit
→ wit
English
wit
→ witness
Old-Frisian
wit
witness, oath
Old-Frisian
wita
to know, to confess
Old-Frisian
wita
to care, to identify
Old-Frisian
wæta
the eucharistic bread holy water
Old-Frisian
witat
clever, intelligent, wise
wiþąrkhniast bmlʀ
Old-Frisian
wite
punishment
wiþąrkhniast bmlʀ
Dutch
wij
we
Personal pronoun
Danish dialects
æ
I
Personal pronoun
English
I
I
Personal pronoun
English
aye
ever, always
eternity
Old-English
ǣ(w)
law
justice
Old Dutch
ee
matrimony
stability
Dutch
eeuw
eternity
eternity
f u þ o r k h n i a s t --- all --bmlʀ
vuþąrkhniast bmlʀ
wiþąrkhniast bmlʀ
fuþąrkhniast bmlʀ
Oudfries Woordenboek
Table 1 Words generated from the “f u þ ą r k h n i a s t b m l ʀ” – alphabetic structure
Conclusion The Germanic, Roman and Greek alphabets have been structured around a central pillar of the dominant vowel “I”, which is located at the center between other vowels A, E at the left wing and O, U (V) and Y respectively Ω at the right wing. Originally the number of alphabetical vowels may have been restricted to 3. The original subset of the vowels started with I, A and U/V. Some of the alphabetic evolutionary stages managed to start the alphabet with a vowel (A) and/or terminate the alphabet with a vowel (U/V or Ω). The vowels were to be used for the synthesis of definitions for (1) divine names (gods), (2) the egopronouns and (3) words for eternity, law, scripture, etc.. Some variants of the runic alphabets contain integrated phrases for the three Germanic sky-gods (“Wuth-an”, “Thuw”, “Thor” - “þor”) and/or personal pronouns of the 1st and 2nd person singular (“Æ”, “IA” and “Thou”), respectively dual (“ƿiþ” or “ƿiþ”). Apart from the 3 sky-gods (Vut, Tuw, Thor) the most important words seems to be (1) „FuþiR“ (“food”, “childbirth”, “fat”, “copulation”), (2) „wit“ (to wit, witness, „we two“) and (3) the words: „matremony“, „eternity“, „aye“ („always“) and „ǣ(w)“ (Alt-Englisch: eternal, scripture, matrimony, tradition, ceremony). In this paper the initial symbol „F“ in the Futhark-runes is interpreted as a „Digamma“ letter which in the Punic alphabet had been defined as the letter Waw (symbolizing „W“) and subsequently also representing the F-, V- , U- and Y-sounds. This rune may have been carrying these phonemes from the archaic beginnings of the runic traditions.
Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................................1 The Runic Alphabet..............................................................................................................................2 Þor, Þuƿ, Ƿuþan and Ƿuþ..................................................................................................................2 The identification of the sky-god Thor (þor).............................................................................2 The identification of the personal pronoun of the first person dual Wuth (ƿuth)......................3 The identification of Wuthan (Ƿuthan)........................................................................................3 The identification of Tuw (Þuƿ)..................................................................................................3 Identifying all three prominent Germanic deities (Woden, Thor & Tiw)...................................3 The Scandinavian Ego-pronoun.......................................................................................................4 Dieterich's entries........................................................................................................................4 The runic final symbol “R-finale” (Aur, Yr, Stupmadr)..................................................................5 Staveless runes.................................................................................................................................5 The Röker runic inscription.............................................................................................................6 Remarkable observations in the “futhork”-structure.......................................................................6 Say goodbye to Wodan's “anger” ....................................................................................................6 The English runic alphabet .............................................................................................................7 The Roman Alphabet ...........................................................................................................................8 The early Roman Alphabet .............................................................................................................8 The classical Roman Alphabet ........................................................................................................8 Diacritics..........................................................................................................................................8 The Claudian letters.........................................................................................................................9 Frederick III's device A-E-I-O-U. ...................................................................................................9 The Greek Alphabet............................................................................................................................10 The early Greek Alphabet .............................................................................................................10 The classical Greek Alphabet .......................................................................................................10 The loss of the symmetrical vowel structure in the Greek Alphabet ............................................10 Divine names as series of vowels.......................................................................................................11 The synthesis of words from the alphabetical set of vowels.........................................................11 The synthesis of words from the runes..........................................................................................12 Words generated from the “f u þ ą r k h n i a s t b m l ʀ” – alphabetic structure......................13 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................14
