Mystery of the Futhark Alphabet Page 1 Page 1 of 2

Türkçe Görmek Ýçin Burayý Týklayýn

MYSTERY OF THE FUTHARK

ALPHABET
Click the picture for a bigger size

The Kylver stone from The Mojbro stone from The Istaby stone from
Stanga (Gotland) SWEDEN Uppland SWEDEN Blekinge SWEDEN

The Futhark alphabet was used by the North European Germanic peoples (the Swedish, Norwegian and
Danish) between the 3rd and 17th centuries A.D. About 3500 stone monuments in Europe, concentrated
mostly in Sweden and Norway, are claimed to have been inscribed with this writing.

The purpose of this article is to draw the readers' attention to the fact that this Futhark alphabet, which is
also called the Runic (1) stemmed from the very same origin as did the ancient Turkish (2) inscriptions
with Gokturk (3) alphabet.The article is concerned solely with reading the alphabet known as "the
primitive futhark", found inscribed on a rock in Kylver on Gotland Island, Sweden, in addition to the
other two stone monuments, namely the Mojbro stone in Uppland, and the Istaby stone in Blekinge, with
their photographs available, and which are considered to belong to the group classified as the oldest
runic inscriptions, by matching their characters with those in the Gokturk inscriptions, and thus being
able to decipher them in Turkish. Further ideas, interpretations and opinions in relation to this particular
subject shall not be treated within this article. I suggest that more interested readers should get in touch
with us directly.

I would like to emphasize the point that I am not advocating any claim on these texts being written in
the Gokturk script or vice versa. My claim is that the alphabets of these monuments found in both
Europe and the Central Asia have stemmed from a common origin in a very remote past. Then, it was
only a natural development for the Turkish, and the Germanic tribes that, although in locations so far
away from each other, they could seperately carry on with this heritage of writing. I hold the belief that I
have been able to prove the claim summarized above by reading the monuments written in Futhark
alphabet, or the Oldest Runic, in Turkish through the help of the Gokturk alphabet. The result
submitted to your reading here is just a small part of a greater research that has been going on for the
past several years (4).

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The Orhun (5) monuments were discovered by a Swedish officer named Strahlenberg, and his finding
was made known by publications in 1730. In 1893, the Danish scholar Thomsen was able to decipher
these inscriptions and declare that they were written in Turkish (6).The monuments of Kultigin and
Bilge Kagan, situated near the Kosho-Tsaydam lake in the Orhun River valley to the south of the Lake
Baykal, and that of Sage Tonyukuk, the Deputy-Khan (7) a little farther, are the three important
memorials which make up what is known in general as the Orhun Monuments. The inscription used on
them consists 38 characters. Numerous stone monuments are also found around the Yenisei River, but
they belong to a period much earlier than that of the Orhun pieces, and there are in excess of 150
Skyturkish character-forms used on. The ancient Turkish script was written vertically with the lines
running from top left downwards to the bottom right, and read accordingly, that is from right to left
when the text is laid down on its right side. The individual marks are not joined, and the full or partial
sentences are seperated with a column mark " : " in between.

The eight vowel sounds of Turkish, are represented in couples by 4 marks, and they usually are not
employed in the beginning and the middle syllables of a word, but are shown in the last syllable, or if
they occur at the end. For example:

a ferocious bull, or a fire-breathing dragon (8).

The "god", or "a deity".

As for the Futhark alphabet employed on the stones found in Sweden, the monuments bearing this
inscription are studied in two main chapters in Prof.Jansson's study:

a) The oldest runic inscriptions

b) The 16-rune Futhark and Runic inscriptions from the Viking Age.

The oldest runic inscriptions are written with an alphabet of 24 characters (9).The chapter, from pages
9 to 24, in Prof.Jansson's book of 185 pages is devoted to this particular period. The three stone
inscriptions which are mentioned in this part are:

- The stone from Kylver farm in Stanga (Gotland). This is the oldest relic found in Sweden, dating back
to the fifth century. (p.13)

- The Mojbro stone from Uppland. (p.18)

- The Istaby stone from Blekinge. (p.21)

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Although these three monuments are declared as not deciphered yet, the author is attempting at some
unfounded assumptions in relation to their contents. According to the map supplied at the end of this
book, there happens to be numerous stones, which are inscribed with the same alphabet and belong to
the same period of history, in more than 70 locations in the north and northwest of Europe. (Appendix
A). In this article, the decipherment of the three stones mentioned above is accounted.

The monuments considered to be in the 16-rune futhark group belong to a later period called the Viking
Age which started at about AD. 800. During this period, the 24-characters of the Primitive Norse runes
became simplified and reduced to 16-rune series.The pages 25-30 and the rest of the book in Jansson's
study are allocated to this subject which is beyond the concern of my article.

The Europen scholars have come to recognize from the very beginning the obvious similarity between
the character forms of the Primitive Norse stones and those of the C.Asian Gokturk monuments, but for
certain various reasons have refrained from tackling this point by denying all kinds of plausible
relations. All throughout the period of 160 years that elapsed between the years of 1730 and 1893, that is
between the discovery of Orhun monuments and their definitely final decipherment, fanciful theories
were fabricated about the Vikings' (or Indo-Germans', or Celts', or Goths') prehistoric emigrations into
C.Asia, and the erection of Orhun stones as landmarks of their presence and civilization dating back to
several thousands of years BC in that region. Only when in 1893, it was understood that these
inscriptions were not written in any other tongue but pure Turkish, then those fanciful theories were
discarded, and the proposed pre-historic datings were revised to be not earlier than AD 700. Even today,
a number of academicians are still straining at finding a Sogdian, Persian or Aramaic origin for Turkish
inscriptions, but their efforts at proving their claims all end in vain. A casual comparision of ancient
scripts is all needed to see that the characters used in Orhun monuments are more identical with the
futhark than any of those alleged originals. Besides this close resemblance, it is an exciting fact that the
Primitive Norse runes declared to have ambiguous contexts can be rendered meaningfully when they
are exposed to our novel method of read-ing ancient Turkish scripts.

As I have remarked at the beginning of this article, it must be kept in mind that the ancient Turkish
script used in Central Asia and the Primitive Norse futhark in Europe, as well as those other scripts
mentioned in passing above, have all stemmed from a common origin in a very remote past. Then, the
Turkish, Germanic, and other tribes have independently relied on this common legacy of writing for the
monuments in their own tongues.

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The stone from Kylver farm in Stanga (Gotland) .

Now, we can take a closer look at the photograph supplied on page 13 in Prof. Jansson's book: The
whole Primitive Norse rune-row is recorded on a stone, used as a side-slab in a sarcophagus, and found
in Kylver farm in Gotland.

Since the characters from the 1st to the 6th spell out futhark, this word is used to denote the runic
script. However, some characters are cut slightly different on the stone than what is shown within the
text above:

An identical form of the futhark character shown under #23 is also found in the Tonyukuk inscription,
and commented upon on page 149 in Prof.Ergin's book, although it is not given in the main list of
symbols. In this book, it is stated to mean "head". But for me, it signifies k+l. kel kelle, which is a
synonim for the same word, and a composite form of these two distinct characters. The same thing can
be said for the character #13: It is a composite form of the symbols

meaning (to) talk, (to) speak in English. It is also interesting if we consider the form as a pictoglyph of
an open mouth.

Now, I shall venture to read this 24-character rune row, from right to left, by applying the rules of
reading Gokturk inscriptions:

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The meaning obtained thru reading the above piece, as if it were written in ancient Turkish, can roughly
be rendered in today's English as follows:

The light of wisdom arrived/descended, he himself carved onto this erect stone, with ( the pointed
tip of ) his arrow/dagger, the words he uttered/spoke through his own mouth.

I shall refrain from venturing into any philological or philosophical interpretations here. But, I would
like to draw your attention to the emergence of the word O.d.ng, when the characters numbered 24, 23,
22 are considered in their runic namesakes. In the Scandinavian mythology, it was Odin, the Norse God
who brought the gift of divine script to mankind. Then, the very name of the god in these three symbols
read out as the light of wisdom (alias the divine reason), or the sage/lord of light in ancient Turkish...
The readers further interested in this subject should get in touch with me.

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The Mojbro stone from Uppland, which is a memorial monument:

In this script, our attention is drawn to the placement of some characters backwards. Especially, the rune
R, read as "op", is peculiar. For this reason, I have read it as "po". Reading from right to left, starting
with the bottom line:

The meaning obtained thru reading the above piece, as if it were written in ancient Turkish, can roughly
be rendered in today's English as follows:

(May both of) the dog(s) charge well; so that the sacred sky-spirit acknowledges their boldness..

On this stone, under the inscription, there is a carving of a rider on his horse,
holding up a round shield in his left hand while brandishing his weapon in his
right. There are two dogs running beside the horse, as if all of them are
engaged in an attack.

Also, the writing style of the symbols and the density of symbols, means the
less character spacing, on the left corner, proves the original writing style
was from right to left.

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The Istaby stone from Blekinge, which was carved in the transition period between the Primitive Norse
period and Viking Age:

Reading the inscription from right to left:

he (who was) brave (and) lived through many hardships (of) army, committed not flight (or did
not desert his post of duty) lies herein...

Truly a fitting epitaph for a soul who endured much in his wordly life.

My deciphering ends here, because the photographs of only these three stones are supplied within the
chapter titled "The Oldest Runic Inscriptions" in Prof. Jansson's book. In conclusion, I admit that I might
have made some minor mistakes and errors in my treatment of the subject. However, I hold the opinion
that these stones do contain the messages of similar meanings in more or less the same way as I have
striven to put forward. My purpose is to initiate a new interest in this ancient inscriptions and be of help
in starting up a fresh discussion in regard to their contents. For this reason, I have not dwelt on
speculative interpretations, but wanted to remark that the Primitive Norse futhark or the rune alphabet
have stemmed from a much older common origin as that of the Gokturks.

January 1994

Turgay Kurum

Address
Yeni Lara Yolu, Doktorlar Sitesi No:10 Guzeloba
ANTALYA / TURKIYE
Tel: 90 - 242 - 349 51 41
Fax: 90 - 242 - 349 51 37
E-Mail : [email protected]

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Mystery of the Futhark Alphabet Appendix A Page 1 of 1

- Appendix A -

Appendix A

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- Appendix B -

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Mystery of the Futhark Alphabet Appendix C Page 1 of 2

- Appendix C -

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Mystery of the Futhark Alphabet Bibliography Page 1 of 1

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ergin, Prof. Muharrem, Orhun Abideleri; Bogazici Yayinlari, Istanbul, Turkiye 1988. More specific
information on the Gokturks and their inscription is accessible in Prof. Ergin's concise book.

Jansson, Prof. Sven B.F., Runes in Sweden; translated by Peter Foote, Gidlunds, Varnamo, Sweden
1987. (English edition of Runinskrifter i Sverige, AWE/Gebers 1963). The photographs of the stone
monuments in Sweden (Appendix A) are provided in Prof. Jansson's book. The inscriptions are clearly legible in these
photographs.

Buyuk Larousse, Interpress-Milliyet, Istanbul,Turkiye 1993; The Turkish edition of Grand Dictionnaire
Encyclopedique, Larousse (GDEL), Paris, France. The Gokturk alphabet used in this article is taken from the
encyclopedia's entry Gokturkce on page 4678, vol. 9. (Appendices B and C).

Bibliography

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FOOTNOTES

Footnotes

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 Illustration 1: Kylver stone from Stanga (Gotland) Sweeden

Illustration 3: Mojbro stone from Uppland Sweeden Illustr. 2: Istaby stone from Blekinge Sweeden
Illustration 4: Ancient Turkic-Orkhon Scripts (engraved on monuments in Mongolia at present)
Illustration 5: Turkic speaking peoples in Eurasia today
Illustration 6: Journey of Man Map by Prof. Spencer Wells based on DNA studies over 50000 years