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The Collaborative International Dictionary
futhark

Futhorc \Fu"thorc\ Futhork \Fu"thork\, n. [Written also futharc, futhark.] The Runic alphabet; -- so called from the first six letters f, u, [thorn] (th), o (or a), r, c (=k). See futharc. [Also spelled futharc and futhorc.]

The letters are called Runes and the alphabet bears the name Futhorc from the first six letters.
--I. Taylor.

Note: The spelling futharc represents most accurately the original values of these six Runic letters.

futhark

futharc \futharc\ futhorc \futhorc\n. 1. [From the sounds of the first five letters.] the name for the runic alphabet. See rune. [Also spelled futhork or futhark]

Note: The name is derived from the sounds of the first five letters of the runic alphabet, f, u, th, o, r, and c. The vowel sound of the fourth letter corresponded more closely to a in the earlier versions used in Scandinavian countries, and the earlier alphabet is therefore referred to as the futharc or futhark. The fifth rune had a sound like that of k, and in the Danish futhark the fifth character is that transliterated as k. Thus the runic alphabet is also called the futhork or futhark. The third rune had a sound and form resembling that of the Anglo-Saxon thorn, which represented the th sound at the beginning of the word thorn. The origins of the runic alphabet are obscure, but the earliest forms may have been invented around the second century A.D. in eastern Europe. The forms of some of the letters show a relation to the Latin or Greek alphabets, and the futhorc was presumably in part an adaptation of those alphabets to the sound of the Germanic tongues. An inscription of the futhark itself, an ordered list of the runes, was found on an object dated as early as the fifth century A.D. The Scandinavian futharc had 16 runes, but the futhorc used in Anglo-Saxon England had 31. The futhark was mostly used for writing on wood, for which reason the runes were comprised of only vertical and diagonal strokes. The degree of widespread use of the futharc is not known but it was probably used mostly for short messages or inscriptions on objects. Fewer than 10,000 runic inscriptions, both on wood and stone, have been found. The number and forms of some of the runes varied over time and locality.
--R. I. Page, ``Runes''.

Wiktionary
futhark

n. The Germanic runic alphabet; especially specifically the Elder or Younger futhark alphabet (of Scandinavia and the European mainland), as contrasted with the Anglo-Saxon futhorc.

Usage examples of "futhark".

Let Bolthor figure how to translate the word into the futhark alphabet.

Even when I was first perusing them, the Church had for long been frowning darkly on every work written by a Goth, or written about the Goths, or written in the Old Language, whether in the futhark runes or in the more modern alphabet concocted by Wulfilas.

And the lights continued to signal the same letter over and over, as if for insistent emphasis, and that third letter of the futhark is the rune called thorn.

His father died fighting the Enemy at Futhark, and his mother killed herself for the love of him.

Continental Germanic Futhark is the one most widely used and most commonly seen by modern Asatruer.