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Younger Futhark

FOO-thahrk
Alphabets
Origin from 800

Younger Futhark is a reduced runic alphabet of sixteen characters, descended from the twenty-four-character Elder Futhark, used to write Old Norse across Scandinavia and Viking Age settlements abroad from about the ninth century until Scandinavia's adoption of the Latin alphabet in the twelfth century.

Facts
Script Type
Alphabet 1
In Use Since (Year)
from 800 1
Circa; the futhark emerged from a seventh- to eighth-century transitional period and was in regular use by about the ninth century.
Directionality (class)
Left-to-right 2
Classification
Script Status
Extinct 1
Classified 'extinct' per this entity's own cited source and standard scholarly consensus on the script's current use; checked 2026-09-27.
Younger Futhark
Filter Results1 entry
Connections

Descends From

Source Wikipedia: Younger Futhark

Is Of Script Type

Alphabet, Scripts

Script Of

Old Norse, Languages

Sharpens the prior associated/debated-stance edge from Runic Alphabet (Elder Futhark) to Old Norse now that this more precise entity exists.

Source Wikipedia: Younger Futhark
In the Other Atlases

Originated In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Younger Futhark
Wikipedia
  • Lead section
    The Younger Futhark ( FOO-thark), also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries.
  • Descends From: Runic Alphabet (Elder Futhark)
    a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters
  • Script Of: Old Norse
    in use from about the 9th century ... for Old Norse
View the Source
2. SIL Global: ScriptSource: Runic
SIL GlobalDirection
Quote, Direction
in later inscriptions the tendency was to write from left to right
View the Source

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