Tolkien's Runes in the Hobbit
Tolkien's Runes in the Hobbit
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JRR Tolkein loved runes, so much he even made up his own runic language for Lord of the Rings called Cirth, which is as expected from a linguist, is a nuanced writing system. However long before he made this system up he also used runes as the writing system of the dwarves in The Hobbit.
This first dwarven rune system was not made up by him, he simply used Anglo-Saxon Futhorc Runes. It is how he used them that of is interest to me, as in all but one case he chose not to use them as the sophisticated writing system they, but instead as simple fairy runes.
My guess as the book is aimed at chidren, he wanted to use a simple young children friendly system they could easily learn.
Below I am going to examine and translate all the runes I have found in The Hobbit.
The Book Title
The Book Title
ᚦ ᛖ ᛫ ᚻ ᚩ ᛒ ᛒ ᛁ ᛏ
th e ᛫ H o b b i t
ᚩ ᚱ
o r
ᚦ ᛖ ᚱ ᛖ ᛫ ᚫ ᚾ ᛞ ᛫ ᛒ ᚫ ᚳ ᛣ ᛫ ᚫ ᚷ ᚫ ᛁ ᚾ
th e r e ᛫ a n d ᛫ b a c k ᛫ a g a i n
So first to the title of the book as Bilbo Baggins writes it.
In the main title the second word, apart from the second runes should be easily readable by any English reader, as the runes appear so close to modern English.
Futhorc has a ᚦ which is a dedicated rune to make the "Th" sound. Tolkien has used it in "the" and "There" words, rather than write "Th" which is the only departure from Fairy Runes, which would write ᛏᚻ the "T" and "H" runes instead.
One curiosity across Tolkien's fairy rune writing in The Hobbit are his various attempts to write "ck". This cluster is a somewhat ridiculous and pointless spelling that exists in modern English, using two different letters to make a sound both letters already make. while in Old English runes one letter does the job of making the "k" sound, that is the ᚳ rune.
So in Old English "back" would be spelt "bak", but when writing Fairy Runes the "ck" needs to be retained, this is a huge problem.
Tolkein in this case has used the ᚳ to represent the the "c". For the "k" he has turned to the ᛣ rune, which also makes the "k" sound, but is extremely rare and only found in a handful of inscriptions.
Effectivly he has simply written "bakk" using the common "k" an a second barely used "k".
The Hidden Runes on Thorin's Map
The Hidden Runes on Thorin's Map
The next Tolkien use of runes I'm going to analyse are the runes on the map owned by Thorin Oakenshield. Once again these rune are basically Fairy Runes with a few nuances.
Tolkien again uses the "th" rune ᚦ.
And similarly uses the ᛝ which is the "ng" rune, instead of writing "ng" individually.
Another nuance is the way Tolkien has spelt "When" he has reversed the WH to spell is "Hwat". This a nod to Old English spelling when "WH" words were spelt "HW". The reversal of the "HW" in English happening around the 12th century.
Finally Tolkien again has trouble with his "ck". This time he uses a completely different approach. In the word "knocks" he simply uses the ᚳ runes twice, but writes it in two different fonts. One with the more standard straight line sticking out the bottom foun in runes carvings, and one more rounded like an English "h" that was often written when using quill and parchment.
ᛋ ᛏ ᚫ ᚾ ᛞ ᛫ ᛒ ᚣ ᛫ ᚦ ᛖ ᛫ ᚷ ᚱ ᛖ ᚣ ᛫ ᛋ ᛏ
s t a n d ᛫ b y ᛫ th e ᛫ g r e y ᛫ s t
ᚩ ᚾ ᛖ ᛫ ᚻ ᚹ ᛖ ᚾ ᛫ ᚦ ᛖ ᛫ ᚦ ᚱ ᚢ ᛋ ᚻ ᛫ ᚳ ᚾ
o n e ᛫ h w e n ᛫ th e ᛫ th r u s h ᛫ k n
ᚩ ᚳ ᚳ ᛋ ᛫ ᚫ ᚾ ᛞ ᛫ ᚦ ᛖ ᛫ ᛋ ᛖ ᛏ ᛏ ᛁ ᛝ ᛫ ᛋ
o c k s ᛫ a n d ᛫ th e ᛫ s e t t i ng ᛫ s
ᚢ ᚾ ᛫ ᚹ ᛁ ᚦ ᛫ ᚦ ᛖ ᛫ ᛚ ᚪ ᛋ ᛏ ᛫ ᛚ ᛁ ᚷ ᚻ ᛏ ᛫
u n ᛫ w i th ᛫ th e ᛫ l a s t ᛫ l i g h t ᛫
ᚩ ᚠ ᛫ ᛞ ᚢ ᚱ ᛁ ᚾ ᛋ ᛫ ᛞ ᚫ ᚣ ᛫ ᚹ ᛁ ᛚ ᛚ ᛫ ᛋ ᚻ
o f ᛫ D u r i n s ᛫ d a y ᛫ w i l l ᛫ s h
ᛁ ᚾ ᛖ ᛫ ᚢ ᛈ ᚩ ᚾ ᛫ ᚦ ᛖ ᛫ ᛣ ᛖ ᚣ ᚻ ᚩ ᛚ ᛖ ᛫
i n e ᛫ u p o n ᛫ th e ᛫ k e y h o l e ᛫
The Other Runes on Thorin's Map
The Other Runes on Thorin's Map
The second set of runes on the map are the odd man out in the book, as they are quite inconsistent. Mostly they are Fairy Runes, however two words are spelt phonetically and one rune has its sound completely changed.
The first word of the text is "Five". Tolkien has very strangely decided to use the ᚢ rune, which makes an "oo" sound, to represent the "v" sound. There was no "v" sound in Old English, so when scribes wanted to write "v" they usually used the ᚠ rune, which makes the "f" sound.
ᚠ ᛁ ᚢ ᛖ
f i v e
ᚠ ᛟ ᛏ ᛫ ᚻ ᛁ ᚷ ᚻ
f ee t ᛫ h i g h
ᚦ ᛖ ᛫ ᛞ ᚩ ᚱ ᛫ ᚫ ᚾ
th e ᛫ d o r ᛫ a n
ᛞ ᛫ ᚦ ᚱ ᛟ ᛫ ᛗ ᚫ ᚣ
d ᛫ th r ee ᛫ m a y
ᚹ ᚩ ᛚ ᚳ ᛫ ᚫ ᛒ ᚱ ᛖ
w o l k ᛫ a b r e
ᚫ ᛋ ᛏ ᛬
a s t
. ᚦ . ᚦ .
. th . th .
Next Tolkien uses the ᛟ rune to represent, "ee".
This is especially strange as the ᛁ rune was commonly used to make both the "i" and "ee" sounds.
The ᛟ rune was a hangover from Elder Futhark, an older rune system where it made an "o" sound. In Old English it changed its sound to "œ" a sound similar to the vowel in the French word for two "deux", but was not commonly used.
Tolkien also for some reason mixes fairy rune words with phonetic ones. With the word "high" he includes the completely redundant "gh" at the end in the runes, but with the word "Dor" and he omits the unecessary second "o".
Finally he uses an "o" not "a" in the word "walk" which phonetically sounds much more like the way it is pronounced.
The use of runes in this text is quite incosistent with his others. I wonder if it was written at a complletely different time.
The last source of runes in the books are on the numerous covers the book has had over the years.
the centre circle runes
the centre circle runes
ᚦᛖ ᚻᚩᛒᛒᛁᛏ ᚩᚱ ᚦᛖᚱᛖ
the hobbit or there
ᚦᛖ ᚻᚩᛒᛒᛁᛏ ᚩᚱ ᚦᛖᚱᛖ
the hobbit or there
ᚫᚾᛞ ᛒᚪᚳᚳ ᚫᚷᚪᛁᚾ
and back again
ᚫᚾᛞ ᛒᚪᚳᚳ ᚫᚷᚪᛁᚾ
and back again
the top runes
ᚦᛖ ᚻᚩᛒᛒᛁᛏ ᚩᚱ ᚦᛖᚱᛖ ᚫᚾᛞ
the hobbit or there and
the top runes
ᚦᛖ ᚻᚩᛒᛒᛁᛏ ᚩᚱ ᚦᛖᚱᛖ ᚫᚾᛞ
the hobbit or there and
ᛒᚫᚳᚳ ᚫᚷᚪᛁᚾ ᛒᛖᛁᛝ ᚦᛖ
back again being the
ᛒᚫᚳᚳ ᚫᚷᚪᛁᚾ ᛒᛖᛁᛝ ᚦᛖ
back again being the
the bottom runes
ᚱᛖᚳᚩᚱᛞ ᚩᚠ ᚪ ᚣᛠᚱᛋ ᛁᚩᚢᚱᚾᛖᚣ
record of a years journey
the bottom runes
ᚱᛖᚳᚩᚱᛞ ᚩᚠ ᚪ ᚣᛠᚱᛋ ᛁᚩᚢᚱᚾᛖᚣ
record of a years journey
ᛗᚪᛞᛖ ᛒᚣ ᛒᛁᛚᛒᚩ ᛒᚪᚷᚷᛁᚾᛋ ᚩᚠ
made by Bilbo Baggins of
ᛗᚪᛞᛖ ᛒᚣ ᛒᛁᛚᛒᚩ ᛒᚪᚷᚷᛁᚾᛋ ᚩᚠ
made by Bilbo Baggins of
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