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Pseudo-runes areglyphs that look likeGermanicrunes but are not true runes. The term is mostly used of incised characters that are intended to imitate runes, often visually or symbolically, sometimes even with no linguistic content, but it can also be used to describe characters of other written languages which resemble runes, for example:Old Turkic script,Old Hungarian script,Old Italic scripts,Ancient South Arabian script.
The term "pseudo-runes" has also been used for runes "invented" after the end of the period of runic epigraphy, used only in medieval manuscripts but not in inscriptions. It has also been used for unrelated historical scripts with an appearance similar to runes, and of modern Latin alphabet variants intended to be reminiscent of runic script.
Cipher runes arecipher systems used as a replacement of standard runes but which do have an intended reading. These are generally not called pseudo-runes but can fit the definition.
The term pseudo-rune has been used byR. I. Page to refer to runic letters that only occur in manuscripts and are not attested in any extant runic inscription. Such runes includecweorð ᛢ,stan ᛥ, andior ᛡ. The main variant shape of the runegér is identical to ᛡ (with ᛄ being a secondary variant of ger), and should not be confused for ior when found epigraphically.[1][2] The age of these "manuscript-only" runes overlaps with the period of runic inscriptions, e.g.cweorth andstan are both found in the 9th-centuryCodex Vindobonensis 795.
The view of calling manuscript-only runes "pseudo-runes" is not shared by historical or modernrunologists, since runes are defined as characters for writing, not strictly for inscriptions,[3] reflecting historical usage.
Of a different type are the pseudo-runes invented in the modern period, such as the unhistoricalArmanen runes, orArmanen Futharkh, created byGuido von List in 1902 and later authors ofGermanic mysticism (e.g.Gibor,Hagal,Wendehorn).[4]
The following Armanen runes have their own articles:
SS runes (German:SS-runen) are rune-like symbols originally used by the German Nazi paramilitary organisationSS (Schutzstaffel) as esoteric insignia during World War II. They were inspired byGuido von List's Armanen runes (see above), which had been used by Nazis prior.
SS runes were mainly used decoratively as symbols and were not viable for writing, even if they sometimes were used in writing asideograms.
Inmodern paganism,new age mysticism andneopagan witchcraft there is the practice of combining various historical runes (mainlyElder runes), with new meanings, and other rune-like symbols, into larger symbols ofesoteric value, erroneously called "bindrunes". They often follow the principle ofsamstavsrunor ("same-stave-runes"), being stacked on top of each other so that a main vertical stave can connect them all, which is mainly done for aesthetic reasons. Other examples connect the runic staves in various unconventional ways, sometimes even with added aesthetic staves with no rhyme or reason.
Icelandic magical staves (Icelandic:galdrastafir,lit. 'galdr staves') can be called a form of pseudo-rune due to them erroneously being called runes or bind-runes by some people due to their appearance and connection to Iceland.[5]
The main use of the term pseudo-rune is in reference to epigraphic inscriptions using letters that imitate the appearance of runes, but which cannot be read as runes.[6] These are different from cryptic or magical runic inscriptions comprising a seemingly random jumble of runic letters, which cannot be interpreted by modern scholars, but can at least be read. In contrast, pseudo-runic inscriptions consist mostly of false letters (some pseudo-runes within a pseudo-runic inscription may coincidentally appear similar or identical to true runes), and so cannot be read at all, even nonsensically.[7]
It has been suggested that pseudo-runic inscriptions were not made by specialist 'rune masters' as is thought to have been the case when carving traditional runic inscriptions, but were made by artisans who were largely ignorant of runes.[8] According toNowell Myres, pseudo-runes may have been "intended to impress the illiterate as having some arcane significance".[9]
In Swedishrunology, such are called "nonsense inscriptions [sv]" (nonsensinskrifter), or "non-lexical inscriptions" (icke-lexikala inskrifter), which arerunic inscriptions with imitation runes or illiterate text.
The following inscriptions have been marked as such:
A common trait in modernhigh fantasy is the creation of fantasy scripts for different fantasy languages and cultures. Many of these are heavily inspired by historical runes and may be indistinguishable to the untrained eye. One of the instigators for such scripts wasJ. R. R. Tolkien, who in his works not only used historical runes, but also invented his own runic script calledCirth.
Tolkien mainly usedCirth forKhuzdûl, the language of the Dwarves, and various fantasy franchises have followed this pattern, such asDethek, the script used for Dwarvish and some other languages inWizards of the Coast'sForgotten Realms setting for the role-playing gameDungeons & Dragons,[10] andKlinkarhun, likewise the script of the Dwarvish languageKhazalid, inGames Workshop'sWarhammer Fantasy setting.[11]
Runiform generally refers to historic scripts which are written with glyphs that are similar in form to the runic script. The historical runiformOld Turkic script andOld Hungarian script, unrelated with the runes but similar in application (inscriptions etched in stone), have sometimes been referred to as pseudo-runes or pseudo-runic.[12] The likely predecessor of runic,Old Italic, also share its likeness, as well as many characters.
The following scripts could be referred to as runiform:
Ogham was also a stone-carved script, although it did not visually resemble runes.