Younger Futhark
The reduction happened at the same time as phonetic changes that led to a greater number of different phonemes in the spoken language, when Proto-Norse evolved into Old Norse.Usage of the Younger Futhark is found in Scandinavia and Viking Age settlements abroad, probably in use from the 9th century onward.[citation needed] Literacy in the Younger Futhark became widespread in Scandinavia, as witnessed by the great number of Runestones (some 3,000), sometimes inscribed with almost casual notes.In tabular form: The Younger Futhark became known in Europe as the "alphabet of the Norsemen", and was studied in the interest of trade and diplomatic contacts, referred to as Abecedarium Nordmannicum in Frankish Fulda (possibly by Walahfrid Strabo) and ogam lochlannach "Ogham of the Scandinavians" in the Book of Ballymote.In the Middle Ages, the Younger Futhark in Scandinavia was expanded, so that it once more contained one sign for each phoneme of the old Norse language.Some discussion remains on whether their use was an unbroken tradition throughout this period or whether people in the 19th and 20th centuries learned runes from books written on the subject.
boustrophedonright-to-left scriptOld NorsePhoenician alphabetGreek alphabetOld Italic alphabetElder FutharkMedieval runesAnglo-Saxon runesISO 15924Unicodephonetic transcriptionsInternational Phonetic AlphabetOld West NorseOld NorwegianGreenlandic NorseOld East NorseOld DanishOld SwedishOld GutnishOrthographyRunic alphabetMedievalMorphologyPoetryof IcelandersLegendaryPoetic EddaProse EddaFirst Grammatical TreatiseProto-Indo-EuropeanProto-GermanicProto-NorseDalecarlianDanishFaroeseGreenlandic Norse (extinct)GutnishIcelandicNorn (extinct)NorwegianSwedishEnglish words ofOld Norse originlong and short vowelsminimal pairsstaveless runesViking AgeChristianization of ScandinaviaLatin alphabetDalecarlian runesOld Norse orthographyMigration PeriodRunestonesDR 248DR 357DR 358DR 359DR 360Setre CombÖg 136Ög 43ideogramCommon GermanicAbecedarium NordmannicumFrankishWalahfrid StraboBook of Ballymoterune poemsjötunnSól (Germanic mythology)EihwazHälsinge runesHälsinglandSwedenstavesvoicelessBergenBryggen inscriptionsOlaus WormiusDalarnaDalecarlian languageCodex Sangallensis 878Cipher runesGermanic peoplesEthnolinguistic groupNorthern EuropeanGermanic languagesNordic Bronze AgeGermaniaPre-Roman Iron AgeRoman Iron AgeRomano-Germanic cultureGermanic Iron AgeEarly cultureArchitectureCalendarClothingFamilyFestivalsFolklore Proto-Germanic folkloreAnglo-Saxon mythologyContinental Germanic mythologyNorse mythologyFunerary practicesAnglo-SaxonLiteratureGothicNumbersPaganismGothic alphabetSymbologyWarfareGothic and VandalVikingLanguagesGermanic parent languageProto-Germanic languageEast Germanic languagesNorth Germanic languagesWest Germanic languagesGroupsAlemanniBrisgaviBucinobantesLentienses