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Before the Viking Age · c. 550–800

The transitional runes

Also called late Proto-Norse runes

Between 500 and 800 the rune row in Scandinavia shrank from 24 to 16 characters. It happened gradually, and in the transitional period old and new forms appear side by side.

  1. f
  2. u
  3. þ
  4. a
  5. r
  6. k
  7. g (dropped)
  8. w (dropped)
  9. h
  10. n
  11. i
  12. j
  13. ï (dropped)
  14. p (dropped)
  15. z
  16. s
  17. t
  18. b
  19. e (dropped)
  20. m
  21. l
  22. ŋ (dropped)
  23. d (dropped)
  24. o (dropped)

Faded runes: the eight that were dropped.

Eight runes disappeared

The runes for g, w, p, e, d, o, ng and the rare ï fell out of use, and several of the others took on new shapes. It is a paradox: the language gained more sounds in the same period, not fewer.

Scholars believe the change came from several things at once: sound changes, changes in the rune names, and a wish for simpler characters.

Inscriptions from the transitional period

The Eggja stone from Sogn in Norway and the Blekinge stones in southern Sweden show the row mid-change. A skull fragment from Ribe in Denmark, from the 700s, is among the first inscriptions with only the sixteen new runes.

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