Page:Runic and heroic poems of the old Teutonic peoples.djvu/17



The origin of the Runic alphabet, the native script of the Teutonic peoples, is still a matter of dispute. Isaac Taylor derived it from a Thracian Greek alphabet, Wimmer of Copenhagen from the Latin alphabet; but each of these theories is open to grave objections, and it is perhaps dangerous to conclude with von Friesen of Upsala that it was taken from a mixture of the two. It is sufficient here to mention that it must have been known to all the Teutonic peoples and that the earliest records go back at least to the fourth century. It was certainly known by the Goths before their conversion; for Wulfila took several of its characters for his Gothic alphabet, and two inscriptions (Pietroassa in Wallachia and Eovel in Volhynia) have been found in lands occupied by the Goths in this period.

In its original form the Runic alphabet consisted of 24 letters, which from the absence of curved or horizontal lines were especially adapted for carving on wood. Testimony is borne by Venantius Fortunatus, whose lines

contain the earliest literary reference to the Runic character; by the Icelandic sagas and by the Anglo-Saxon poem known as the Husband's Message; but from the nature of the case the lance-shaft from Kragehul (Fyn) is almost a solitary D. R. P.