Younger Futhark Translator (Viking Runes)

How to use the Younger Futhark translator

1. Type a name or a short phrase in English or in Old Norse spelling. Letters such as ð, þ, ø and á are understood.
2. Choose the rune row. Long-branch runes were the common Danish style; short-twig runes were quicker to carve and turn up mostly in Sweden and Norway.
3. Choose a word separator. Viking-age carvers usually split words with a single dot, or with a small cross on some stones.
4. Press Convert and copy the runes. Open “Runes in your text” to see which sounds each rune covers.
5. Reading runes? Switch the direction and paste them in. You will get each rune’s main sound, which you can then match to a real word.

How the conversion works

The Younger Futhark has only 16 runes, eight fewer than the Elder Futhark it replaced around AD 800. Old Norse had more sounds than ever, so each rune had to do several jobs. ᚴ (kaun) stood for both k and g, ᛏ (Týr) for t and d, ᛒ (bjarkan) for b and p, and ᚢ (úr) for u, o, v, w and the vowel y. The tool follows the same rules:

• Pairs of sounds that shared a rune are merged: g → ᚴ, d → ᛏ, p → ᛒ, e → ᛁ, o → ᚬ, and v, w → ᚢ.
• th and ð become ᚦ, and ng is written ᚾᚴ.
• Double letters are written once, as Viking carvers did, so Gunnar becomes ᚴᚢᚾᛅᚱ.
• Soft c (before e, i, y) is written ᛋ, and hard c is written ᚴ.

Bjorn → b + j + o + r + n → ᛒ ᛁ ᚬ ᚱ ᚾ → ᛒᛁᚬᚱᚾ

Because one rune covers several sounds, reading runes back is ambiguous. ᛏᛅᚴᚱ could be dagr (“day”) or a different word entirely. Real runologists read from context and grammar, and so should you.

The rune ᛦ (ýr) is shown in the chart but the tool does not add it on its own. It marks a final -R sound found in Old Norse grammatical endings such as konungR. If you are writing an Old Norse word that needs it, paste ᛦ in yourself.

Younger Futhark chart: long-branch and short-twig

The names come from the Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems written down in the 13th to 15th centuries. Some runes look the same in both rows: ᚠ, ᚢ, ᚦ, ᚱ, ᚴ, ᛁ and ᛚ.

Examples

Viking names

Leif Erikson becomes ᛚᛁᛁᚠ᛫ᛁᚱᛁᚴᛋᚬᚾ with the dot separator. Freydis becomes ᚠᚱᛁᚢᛏᛁᛋ: the y is a vowel here, so it uses ᚢ, exactly as y was written on Viking-age stones.

A real inscription to compare

The larger Jelling stone in Denmark, raised by King Harald Bluetooth in the 960s, names Gorm and Thyre and spells Danmark as tanmaurk. Notice the t for d and the au: carvers spelled what they heard with the runes they had. Our output for “Danmark” is ᛏᛅᚾᛘᛅᚱᚴ in the same way.

Old Norse words

Valhǫll becomes ᚢᛅᛚᚼᚬᛚ. If you want Old Norse spellings rather than English ones, look the word up first in our Old Norse Translator, then paste the Old Norse form here.

Long-branch or short-twig: which should you use?

For most purposes, choose long-branch. It is the style of famous stones like Jelling, it is easier to read and it is what most books print. Short-twig runes (sometimes called Rök runes, after the Rök stone in Sweden) are simpler strokes that were quick to cut into wood. They suit a project linked to Swedish or Norwegian history, or something carved by hand. If you are unsure how the rows differ from the older alphabet, our guide to Elder Futhark vs Younger Futhark vs Futhorc: The Differences Explained compares all three.