RUNES, the letters of alphabets in use amongst the ancient Gothic or Teutonic nations of the north of Europe. The word Lae been derived variously from rye, the Gothic for " to cut ;" sin, or rep," a furrow," or "channel," from the resemblance of the letters to thole( objects ; reuses, the German for " to whisper; " and Tyne or ran, a " mystery " or "secret art." The two latter derivations are based upon the idea that the Runic characters were taught perfectly only to the priests and ministers of religion ; or that they were used as lots when inscribed ou small sticks or atones, which, when shaken together and drawn out, served for purposes of augury and divination.
By some writers the invention of Runes has been ascribed to Ulphilne, a Gothic bishop, who flourished about A.D. 350 ; but more modern invmei gatinns have shown that they were far anterior to his time. The cir cumstance which led to the supposition that Ulphilas had invented Runes, arose from the fact that he introduced Greek characters among the Goths. These ho amalgamated with the already existing Runic letters, and formed an alphabet which is now known as the lilirsogothic, as the Latin characters introduced into England, probably by Augustine, are known as the Anglo-Saxon. Others again have attributed to the Runes a Roman origin ; but Tacitua says that the Teutonic tribes • possessed letters of the alphabet when the Romans first became acquainted with them, although he calls them " secrete literarum," and thus seems to intimate that the knowledge of letters and their powers was confined to certain classes only of the people. Moreover the pure Runic alphabet consists only of sixteen letters, and these have nothing iu common, either in their names or order, with the Greek, the Roman, or the Gothic characters of Ulphilas. The probability is that, according to the opinion of Fr. Schlegel, the alphabet was origin. ally introduced amongst the inhabitants of the coasts of the Baltic by the Phcenician merchants who traded there; that It was only revealed partially to the general body of the people, whilst the priests reserved the full knowledge of it to theinaelves, in order to establish their claim to superior power and intelligence by the exercise of magic arts and the employment of mystic signs. These signs were frequently cul upon smooth stick!, called run-stafas, mysterious stares, and were used for the purpoee of divination and priesteraft.
There is a legend which attributes the invention of Runes to the god Odin or Wodcn, and which states that he migrated from Asia about the time of the invasion of Darius Ilystaspes (am. 508) ; and, having settled in Scandinavia, established temples, a priesthood (to whom hi communicated the Runic letters, together with the mythology of the E'dda), and became both the legislator and civiliser of the north of Europe. Others again place the migration of Odin at the period of tle overthrow of Intimidates( by Pompey (e.e. 60), and assert that be lied from the country of the Caucasus, settled in Upeala, and, havini distributed Norway, Denmark, and Ootbland amongst his eons, we., worshipped as a god after his death. Notwithstanding the obscurity of these myths, they seem undoubtedly to point to the fact that tin pure Runes were introduced into the North from the East, and that tin of Grimm, Schlegel, and thee) who attribute to them as LEL Driental origin, is more correct than that of those who suppose them to have been derived from the Greek or Roman alphabets, although there is but little doubt that they became afterwards modified by the introduction of Greek and Roman character,.
The three classes into which Runic letters and inscriptions may be divided are, I, the Scandinavian or Norse; 2, the German ; 3, the Anglo-Saxon; • and of these each has its own alphabet. The origin of the first of them is, as has been already observed, involved iu considerable obscurity ; the second stands betweeu the ancient Northern, or Scandinavian, and the Anglo-Saxon, aud is thus con sidered by Grimm to have sprung from the former, and to have been the parent of the latter. The Anglo-Saxon Runes were in all probability derived from the Marcomannic or Norman runic alphabets, that is, from the characters used by the Nordalbingii, or Saxons north of the Elbe, who were the progenitors of the Anglo-Saxon race. The Marcomannic Runes resemble the Anglo-Saxon, but they do not at all resemble the Norse in form ; but all the three nations in attributing the primary invention of Runes to Wodcu (the Mercury of the Anglo Saxons), and all of them shared in the belief of the magical properties and powers appertaining to and supposed to be inherent in runic letters and inscriptions.