What the futhark?

Since I didn't write a post yesterday, I've had a whole day to think of a blog post. I researched a lot yesterday, and found some cool things related to abandoned airfields in NM, and the map of the Army Corp of Engineers that lists the locations of their huge "bullseyes" that used to be used for bombing practice. I could write about those things, but I don't wanna.

As usual, I want to talk more about Vikings...or the blue ringed octopus...or deadly Australian animals in general...hmmm, what should I choose?

Well, my title gives it away, of course! Oh, you didn't know that Vikings had their own alphabet, based on Germanic runic script, and that it was called "futhark?" Well, isn't that a fun word? Can you imagine the fun those rascally Vikings had with that word when they clashed with those filthy Englishmen?

Here's my relative Ragnar, as depicted by the History Channel:

Ragnar Sigurdson: Hey, filthy Northumbrian! I would like to futhark your bonny wife!
All the other Vikings snicker like a whole bunch of Beavis' and Buttheads ("He said, "futhark, hee hee hee.")

King Aelle: What?! How dare thee! Take it back, or I'll throw thee into that snake pit over yonder!

Ragnar: No, really...I want to futhark your wife. You know, teach her things.
All the Vikings make crude noises. King Aelle's wife starts to look very intrigued with the tall blonde Scandinavian joker.

King Aelle: Stop it! Stop it right now, you...you heathen scoundrel!

Ragnar: What? You stupid dumba$$...I just want to teach your wife the ABC's!

King Aelle: (still preceiving he's the butt of a dirty joke) KILL THEM ALL!
King Aelle's army roars forward, and the Vikings switch into berserker mode, and kill so many of them that the King is forced to retreat to home, where he cries into his momma's lap.

This is King Aelle, from The Vikings on the History Channel. He looks like a momma's boy.

Anyway, the futhark was a whole bunch of Runes that comprised the Viking alphabet. I like runes. Did you know we get a lot of words from the Vikings? Like the word Viking itself. It comes from the word vikingr from the verb root fara i viking, which means, " to go on an expedition." Or as the Vikings might say, "Let's go raid, trade, and steal!"

The word window is also a Viking word. Pretty interesting in regard to the chase, isn't it? Let's see, if Fenn's roots trace back to Scandinavia (and they do), we have Fennland and window, so far. It's so coincidental it's got to be confirmation bias. LOL.

But window is still a very interesting word. It comes from the word vindauga, which literally translates to "wind-eye." Now isn't that interesting?

Here's a common window, in case you needed a reference:

Oh, look! More chase related words! The word scant is Viking, which meant short, or lacking. I'm thinking it means short, as related to the chase. Also, the word foot. More coincidence? (Yes.)

And weak! Weak is a Viking word!

Two more Viking words that appear in the poem are "give" and "take."

Creek came from the Vikings, but it didn't mean what we believe it means. To the Vikings, it meant "corner" or "nook." I'm starting to think that's why you might not need a paddle. :)

When I Googled "corner nook," I got this picture of a girl in a creek...

Now, let's take a little time to talk about the word, peace. We didn't get the word peace from the Vikings, because apparently, there was no such thing, but maybe we did get the peace symbol from a Viking Rune, the Algiz (eolh, elhaz) rune, the rune associated with life, but inverted, becomes the Yr rune, and connotes death.

The Elder Futhark portrayed this rune like the one on the right. The Younger Futhark portrays the rune like our peace sign on the left, minus the circle. Could this represent old and new?

So, this special rune, the eolh (also Algiz or Elhaz) rune, means "elk," and was usually used in combination with seog, or sedge. There is some controversy surrounding this rune. Some scholars believe it represented phonetic z, and others maintain it represents phonetic x. Others believe the earliest form of the rune represented the hw sound and was called hweol, or wheel. There were also later variants of this rune. One was a superimposition of the Elder (Old) and Younger (New) Futhark, resulting in an asterisk shape. It can be found on this runic love charm, and the "binding" of elder and younger Futhark runes like this appears to be somewhat common. This is the Charmay Fibula...can you find the bindrune?

Here is the Elder Futhark:

If it does represent x, could it be that the entire word "peace," is the missing x in the poem?

Or could "go in peace" mean something completely different, as suggested above? If the inverted rune for life is our modern day peace sign, then "go in peace" may mean "go in death." Or it could represent that particular rune, meaning "go in elk-sedge," or "go in x." Or maybe "go in wheel?"

Another interesting thing worth mentioning is that while the rune in the Elder Futhark meant "elk" (or elk-sedge), the rune in the Younger Furthark meant "yew."

This yew tree is 1,000 years old:

One of the earliest poems this rune appears in is an Anglo Saxon rune poem. One stanza reads:

"The Elk-sedge usually lives in the fen,
growing in the water. It wounds severely,
staining with blood any man
who makes a grab at it."

For those of you who don't know, elk sedge is a type of grass that looks like this:

And here is where it can be found:

What the futhark?! Did I just eliminate my state?

And look, elk-sedge is used to make fly lures:

Isn't that totally interesting and coincidental? I think this is going to have to be a two-parter, because it's just too good...and I have more info to impart...