What is the Futhark?
Futhark is the name for the rune row, or full rune set. It does the same job as our alphabet. Due to changes in pronunciation over the centuries, the Anglo-Saxons came to call it the Futhorc, but it’s basically the same word. How did this name come about? Same way as the name alphabet came about, I guess. The word alphabet is made up of the first two letters in the Greek alphabet, Alpha and Beta. Those were the Greek names for A and B. I guess everybody knows that. So naming the rune set follows the same principle. We take the first six runes Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raido and Kauno – put the sounds they represent together, and they make the word Futhark. (The Th sound is represented by just one rune, Thurisaz.). Why are these the first six runes? I don’t know. Nobody knows. You might just as well ask why did the Greeks decide to have Alpha and Beta as their first two letters? Why didn’t they choose Omega and Delta? I don’t suppose anyone knows the answer to that, either. The fact
