RUNES [FIRST EDITION]. The modern English word rune (Dan., rune; Swed., runa; Icel. pl., rúnar; Ger., Rune) signifies any character in the ancient Germanic, and especially Scandinavian, alphabet. The word is seemingly derived from a hypothetical Germanic form, *runo-, meaning "secret" (cf. modern Ger. raunen, "whisper"; Icel. rýna, "speak confidentially"; Goth. rûna, "secret"; AS rún, "rune, secret whispering"). The Finnish word runo, meaning "song," is an early borrowing from Germanic.

Comprising the earliest known form of writing in any Germanic tongue, runic inscriptions can be documented for as early as 200 CE. What is known of cultural, and especially linguistic, development in general leads to the supposition that runes must have been in existence for some generations by the time the earliest preserved inscriptions were carved. Numerous theories concern the date of their creation, the tribal identity of their inventors...