Modern English Runes, stella edition

Runes and Order

Following runic tradition, the main runes of this system are ordered in 4 rune rows of 8 symbols each. Additional letters exist as optional variants and don't have a place in the "main" order. For the purposes of the number system, some are added back in as a ninth rune for each row.

ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚩ ᚱ ᚳ ᚷ ᚹ
ᚻ ᚾ ᛁ ᛄ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛋ
ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛝ ᛞ ᛟ
ᚨ ᚪ ᚬ ᚣ ᚥ ᛠ ᛣ ᚸ

extras: ᚡᚤᚧᛌᛥᛢᛊ

Consonants

These are the basic runes used for consonant sounds in this system. Some sounds are represented by digraphs, which are listed below.

  • ᛈ - /p/
  • ᛒ - /b/
  • ᛏ - /t/
  • ᛞ - /d/
  • ᛣ - /k/ (see palatalization rules below)
  • ᚸ - /ɡ/ (see palatalization rules below)
  • ᛉ - /ks/, /ɡz/ (optional, for non-Germanic words)
  • ᛢ - /kw/ (like latin ⟨qu⟩, optional, can be ⟨ᚳᚹ⟩ instead)
  • ᛗ - /m/
  • ᚾ - /n/
  • ᛝ - /ŋ/, /ŋɡ/ (including assimilation)
  • ᚠ - /f/, /v/
  • ᚡ - /v/ (optional)
  • ᚦ - /θ/, /ð/
  • ᚧ - /ð/ (optional)
  • ᛋ - /s/, /z/ (always plural marker)
  • ᛊ - /z/ (optional)
  • ᛌ - /(ə)s/, /(ə)z/ (optional, as a possessive marker)
  • ᛥ - /st/ (optional, not across morpheme boundaries)
  • ᚳ - /k/, /tʃ/ (see palatalization rules below)
  • ᚷ - /ɡ/, /dʒ/ (see palatalization rules below)
  • ᚻ - /h/, /x/ (optionally historic /x/ that is now silent)
  • ᚱ - /r/
  • ᛚ - /l/
  • ᛄ,ᛡ - /j/ (variants)
  • ᚹ - /w/

Palatalization Rules

Before front vowels (ᛁ, ᛖ, ᛠ), henceforth referred to as /E/, ᚳ and ᚷ are palatalized, adopting their /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ pronunciations. /kE/ and /ɡE/ are represented using ᛣ and ᚸ. /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ before non-front vowels are represented by inserting ᛖ after the respective consonant rune.

Optional modifications:

  • To avoid trailing ᛖ, the ends of words can be considered equivalent to a front vowel. In the interest of preserving morphological consistency, spellings derived from this should stay consistent in compounds. For example, since ⟨ᛞᚪᚱᚳ⟩ is */dɑɹtʃ/ with this modification, "dark" should be transcribed as ⟨ᛞᚪᚱᛣ⟩. Therefore, "darkness" should be ⟨ᛞᚪᚱᛣᚾᛖᛋ⟩, unusually placing ᛣ before another consonant.
  • Instead of ᚷᛖ before non-/E/, you may want to use ᚷᚳ. This spelling for /dʒ/ has some historical legitimacy. ᚳᚳ for /tʃ/ is possible but not recommended.
  • The decision whether or not to consider ᛇ a front vowel is left to taste.
  • Palatalization rules may also be disregarded entirely, treating ᚳ and ᚷ as /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ in every environment.

Vowels

These are the simple vowel runes in this system. Diphthongs and rhotic vowels are in the Di-/Trigraphs section

  • ᛁ - KIT, happY
  • ᛖ - DRESS
  • ᚢ - STRUT
  • ᚤ - FOOT
  • ᚨ - TRAP
  • ᚩ - LOT
  • ᛠ - FLEECE
  • ᛇ - FACE
  • ᚥ - GOOSE
  • ᛟ - GOAT
  • ᚪ - PALM, BATH
  • ᚬ - THOUGHT (optional, can be ⟨ᚩ⟩)
  • ᚣ - MUTE (includes words where /ju/ became /uː/)

Di-/Trigraphs

These are combinations of runes that make a unique sound when put together.

  • ᛋᚳ - /ʃ/, /ʒ/ (/stʃ/ is ⟨ᛥᚳ⟩)
  • ᛊᚳ - /ʒ/ (optional)
  • ᚻᛋ - /ks/ (optionally ⟨ᛉ⟩ in non-Germanic words)
  • ᚻᚹ - /ʍ/ (also in "who" ⟨ᚻᚹᚥ⟩)
  • ᚹᚱ - /r/ (when historically /wr/, like "write" ⟨ᚹᚱᚨᛁᛏ⟩)
  • ᚪᚢ - MOUTH (⟨ᚪᚹ⟩ before vowels)
  • ᚨᛁ - PRICE (⟨ᚨᛄ⟩ before vowels)
  • ᚩᛁ - CHOICE (⟨ᚩᛄ⟩ before vowels)
  • ᛁᚱ - FIRST
  • ᛖᚱ - TERM, lettER (also generalized /ər/, can also be "tERror")
  • ᚢᚱ - NURSE
  • ᚪᚱ - START
  • ᛠᚱ - NEAR
  • ᛇᚱ - SQUARE
  • ᚥᚱ - TOUR
  • ᛟᚱ - FORCE, NORTH
  • ᚬᚱ - NORTH (optional)
  • ᚣᚱ - CURE
  • ᚪᚢᚱ - HOUR
  • ᚨᛁᚱ - WIRE

Words

This is a list of individual words which have been assigned "irregular" spellings. All of these are not rules, but strong suggestions, and you are free to come up with your own additions to this list.

  • "the" - ᚦ
  • "a" - ᚨ
  • "an" - ᚨᚾ
  • "I" (pronoun) - ᚨᛁ or ᛁᚻ
  • "you" - ᚣ
  • "to" - ᛏᚢ or ᛏᚤ
  • "too" - ᛏᚥ
  • "two" - ᛏᚥ or ᛏᚹᚥ
  • "blew" - ᛒᛚᚥ
  • "blue" - ᛒᛚᚣ
  • "-(e)d" - ᛖᛞ (even when e isn't pronounced)
  • "-tion" - ᛋᚳᚢᚾ
  • "cool" - ᚳᚣᛚ
  • "suggest" - ᛋᚢᚷᚳᛖᛥ

Punctuation

These are some suggestions for punctuation in runic texts. The definitions are intentionally vague, and you are free to interpret and apply these in any way you want.

  • ᛫ - word separator (~space, hyphen)
    • ᚻᛖᛚᛟ᛫ᚹᛖᚱᛚᛞ
  • ᛬ - sentence separator (~full stop)
    • ᚨᛁ᛫ᚨᛗ᛫ᚷᛟᛁᛝ᛫ᚻᛟᛗ᛬
  • ᛭ - question separator (~question mark, maybe ¿?)
    • ᚻᚹᚪᛏ᛫ᛁᛋ᛫ᚣᚱ᛫ᚾᛇᛗ᛭
    • ᚾᚨᛁᛋ᛫ᚹᛖᚦᛖᚱ᛭ᛁᛋᚾᛏ᛫ᛁᛏ᛭
  • ᛫᛫ - sentence divider (~comma, dash)
    • ᚨᛁ᛫ᚪᛋᛣᛖᛞ᛫᛫ᛒᚢᛏ᛫ᚣ᛫ᛋᛖᛞ᛫ᚾᛟ᛬
  • ᛫᛫᛫ - long sentence divider (~semicolon, ellipsis)
    • ᚦ᛫ᛞᚩᚷ᛫ᚹᚪᛋ᛫ᛋᚳᚨᚱᛁ᛫᛫᛫ᚻᛠ᛫ᚷᚱᚪᚢᛚᛖᛞ᛫ᛚᚪᚢᛞᛚᛁ᛬
  • ᛬᛬ - emphatic sentence separator (~exclamation mark)
    • ᚨᛁ᛫ᛞᛟᚾᛏ᛫ᛒᛖᛚᛠᚠ᛫ᛁᛏ᛬᛬
  • ᛫᛬᛫ - explanation marker (~colon)
    • ᚱᚥᚾᛋ᛫ᚪᚱ᛫ᚠᚢᚾ᛫᛬᛫ᚦᛇ᛫ᛚᚤᛣ᛫ᚷᚤᛞ᛫ᚨᚾᛞ᛫ᚠᛁᛏ᛫ᛁᛝᛚᛁᛋᚳ᛬᛬
  • ᛫᛬, ᛬᛫ - quote marker (~quotation marks, cf. «»)
    • ᛋᚳᛠ᛫ᛋᛖᛞ᛫᛬ᚳᚢᛗ᛫ᚹᛁᚦ᛫ᛗᛠ᛬᛫
  • ᛫᛭᛬, ᛬᛭᛫ - sentence inserter (~parentheses)
    • ᚻᚨᚱᚩᛚᛞ᛫᛭᛬ᚨᚾᛞ᛫ᚻᛁᛋ᛫ᛞᚩᚷ᛬᛭᛫ᚹᛖᚱ᛫ᛚᛇᛏ᛬

Numbers

The number system is inspired by various alphabetic number systems like the Greek, Armenian and Hebrew systems, in which letters are grouped into rows of nine with each letter representing a value from 1-9 and each row representing a power of 10. Letters are then simply put one after another in (usually) descending order to write numbers additively. The following table shows the value of each rune in this system:

ones tens hundreds thousands
ᚠ (1) ᚻ (10) ᛏ (100) ᚨ (1000)
ᚢ (2) ᚾ (20) ᛒ (200) ᚪ (2000)
ᚦ (3) ᛁ (30) ᛖ (300) ᚬ (3000)
ᚩ (4) ᛄ (40) ᛗ (400) ᚣ (4000)
ᚱ (5) ᛇ (50) ᛚ (500) ᚥ (5000)
ᚳ (6) ᛈ (60) ᛝ (600) ᛠ (6000)
ᚷ (7) ᛉ (70) ᛞ (700) ᛣ (7000)
ᚹ (8) ᛋ (80) ᛟ (800) ᚸ (8000)
ᛥ (9) ᛢ (90) ᛊ (900) ᛤ (9000)

For example, the number 2023 would be written as ᚪᚾᚦ.

Within text, numerals are marked by being surrounded with ᛭. For example:

ᛁᚻ᛫ᚨᛗ᛭ᚻᛥ᛭ᛄᛠᚱᛋ᛫ᛟᛚᛞ᛬
(I am 19 years old.)

Currently, there is no way to write numbers larger than 9999 (ᛤᛊᛢᛥ).

It should be noted that these numerals are intended to be used primarily in similar ways as Roman numerals are today - to enumerate lists, chapters, and other things, and to write dates and small quantities in a fancy way. For maths and most day-to-day numbering, Arabic numerals are accepted.

Edit
Pub: 05 Feb 2023 00:06 UTC
Edit: 19 Feb 2023 08:11 UTC
Views: 428