ᚻᚪᚹ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᚱᛡᛏ᛫ᛁᚾ᛫ᚱᚣᚾᛋ
How to Write in Runes
I have a system of using these runes to write my dialect of American English.
Of course, if you have a different dialect, or just like runes, you
might prefer to use the keyboard differently. This is just one possible system
which is more phonetic than standard English spelling.
First of all, forget everything you know about English spelling.
My system of Runic spelling is (mostly) phonetic, unlike J. R. R. Tolkien's
system, which mostly substitutes the non-phonetic English spelling system
letter by letter. There are a few exceptions to this phonetic
system, which I will explain later. First, here is a basic guide to
writing modern English in my system of runes. I have included the
sounds of American English as I speak it in IPA (the international
phonetic alphabet), plus an example of this sound in a word,
and finally the rune to represent that sound. I start with
pure vowels, then diphthongs, and finally consonants. There is
no distinction for vowel length.
You may have noticed that some runes stand for more than one sound. There are
a few other possible ambiguities. Here are some rules to clear that up.
If you'd like to contribute to this keyboard, or just check out the source code,
the GitHub is at crackalamoo/futhorc.
The code is written in Rust and JavaScript.
Thank you to David Campbell for help with the Rust code and
the IPA transliteration system.
ᛏᚣ᛫ᛒᛁ, ᚪᚱ᛫ᚾᛟᛏ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛒᛁ, ᚦᚫᛏ᛫ᛁᛋ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᚳᚹᛖᛋᚳᚻᚢᚾ:
ᚹᛖᚦᚢᚱ᛫'ᛏᛁᛋ᛫ᚾᚩᛒᛚᚢᚱ᛫ᛁᚾ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᛗᛡᚾᛞ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᚢᚠᚢᚱ
ᚦᛖ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛝᛋ᛫ᚫᚾᛞ᛫ᚫᚱᚩᛋ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᚪᚹᛏᚱᛠᚷᚻᚢᛋ᛫ᚠᚩᚱᚳᚻᚢᚾ,
ᚪᚱ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛏᛠᚳ᛫ᚪᚱᛗᛋ᛫ᚢᚷᛖᚾᛥ᛫ᚢ᛫ᛋᛁ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᛏᚱᚢᛒᚢᛚᛋ,
ᚫᚾᛞ᛫ᛒᛡ᛫ᚢᛈᚩᛋᛁᛝ᛫ᛖᚾᛞ᛫ᚦᛖᛗ: ᛏᚣ᛫ᛞᛡ, ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ
ᚾᚩ᛫ᛗᚩᚱ; ᚫᚾᛞ᛫ᛒᛡ᛫ᚢ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ, ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᛠ᛫ᚹᛁ᛫ᛖᚾᛞ
ᚦᛖ᛫ᚻᚪᚱᛏ-ᛠᚳ, ᚫᚾᛞ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᚦᚪᚹᛋᚢᚾᛞ᛫ᚾᚫᚳᚻᚢᚱᚢᛚ᛫ᛋᚻᛟᚳᛋ
ᚦᚫᛏ᛫ᚠᛚᛖᛋᚻ᛫ᛁᛋ᛫ᛠᚱ᛫ᛏᚣ? 'ᛏᛁᛋ᛫ᚢ᛫ᚳᛟᚾᛋᚢᛗᛠᛋᚻᚢᚾ
ᛞᚢᚠᚪᚹᛏᛚᛁ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛒᛁ᛫ᚹᛁᛋᚻᛞ. ᛏᚣ᛫ᛞᛡ, ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ,
ᛏᚣ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ, ᛈᚢᚱᚳᚫᚾᛋ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛞᚱᛁᛁᛗ; ᛡ, ᚦᛠᚱ'ᛋ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᚱᚢᛒ,
ᚠᚪᚱ᛫ᛁᚾ᛫ᚦᚫᛏ᛫ᛋᛚᛁᛁᛈ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᛞᛖᚦ᛫ᚹᚢᛏ᛫ᛞᚱᛁᛁᛗᛋ᛫ᛗᛠ᛫ᚳᚢᛗ,
ᚹᛖᚾ᛫ᚹᛁ᛫ᚻᚫᚠ᛫ᛋᚻᚢᚠᚢᛚᛞ᛫ᛟᚠᚠ᛫ᚦᛁᛋ᛫ᛗᚪᚱᛏᚢᛚ᛫ᚳᚩᛁᛚ,
ᛗᚢᛥ᛫ᚷᛁᚠ᛫ᚢᛋ᛫ᛈᛟᛋ.
To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.
“ᚳᛁᛁᛈ, ᛠᚾᛋᚻᚢᚾᛏ᛫ᛚᚫᚾᛞᛋ, ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᛥᚩᚱᛁᛁᛞ᛫ᛈᛟᛗᛈ!” ᚳᚱᛡᛋ᛫ᛋᚻᛁ
ᚹᛁᚦ᛫ᛋᛡᛚᚢᚾᛏ᛫ᛚᛁᛈᛋ. “ᚷᛁᚠ᛫ᛗᛁ᛫ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᛏᛡᚢᚱᛞ, ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᛈᚣᚱ,
ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᚻᚢᛞᚢᛚᛞ᛫ᛗᚫᛋᚢᛋ᛫ᛄᚢᚱᚾᛁᛝ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛒᚱᛁᛁᚦ᛫ᚠᚱᛁ,
ᚦᛖ᛫ᚱᛖᚳᚻᚢᛞ᛫ᚱᛖᚠᛄᚣᛋ᛫ᛟᚠ᛫ᛄᚩᚱ᛫ᛏᛁᛁᛗᛁᛝ᛫ᛋᚻᚩᚱ.
ᛋᛖᚾᛞ᛫ᚦᛁᛁᛋ, ᚦᛖ᛫ᚻᚩᛗᛚᛖᛋ, ᛏᛖᛗᛈᛖᛥ-ᛏᛟᛋᛞ᛫ᛏᚣ᛫ᛗᛁ,
ᛡ᛫ᛚᛁᚠᛏ᛫ᛗᛡ᛫ᛚᚫᛗᛈ᛫ᛒᚢᛋᛡᛞ᛫ᚦᛖ᛫ᚷᚩᛚᛞᚢᚾ᛫ᛞᚩᚱ!”
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”