Angerthas vs. Old Icelandic

trolls' bane · 03-12-2005, 10:44 PM

I'm just going to cut to the chase. I recently went to the nearest Borders book store, and (of course) boutght books. Among the four I bought, I took home a hardcover edition of The Complete Tolkien Companion by J.E.A. Tyler with a jacket picturing the Glittering Caves, painted by Ted Nasmith, and a copy of Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne.
I started reading the latter book that night, and looked at several entries in the first of the two that night as well. Close to the beginning of each book, there was a runic inscription. In J.C.E., it was Arne Saknussem's encoded manuscript, explaining (as it later turned out) how to reach the center of the earth. Right away, I recognized some of the letters in the document (which according to Professor Lindenbrock, were Old Icelandic runes) as those found in the Appendixes of LotR, the dwarf version known as Angerthas, and in its original form known as Certhas. I looked in the Tolkien Companion, and found right away that at least one of the letters matched (it didn't have the full script like the appendix, which I no longer have, just the enscription on Balin's tomb).
When I post the pictures tomorrow, you will see the letter that I recognized immediately, however pixillated it will be.

Please post away if you know. I will just insert the pics into this post.

***Earniel*** · 03-13-2005, 07:10 AM

Yes, Tolkien's Angerthas are based on existing runes (I usually call them Viking runes). The original runes (or at least a sort of runes where I'm aware of) are called Futhark (or Futhork according to different books), the name comes from the first runes in their alphabet, much like our ABC.

Some of the runes of Tolkien's Angerthas are exact copies of existing Futhark-runes, they only have a different sound value.

trolls' bane · 03-13-2005, 06:48 PM

Oh, so I wasn't too far off when I guessed that a long time back (but that was before I had completely read LotR, back when I thought I wouldn't like it).

03-12-2005, 10:44 PM	#1
trolls' bane Entmoot Secretary of the Treasury Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Campsite-by-Giraffe Posts: 5,408	Angerthas vs. Old Icelandic I'm just going to cut to the chase. I recently went to the nearest Borders book store, and (of course) boutght books. Among the four I bought, I took home a hardcover edition of The Complete Tolkien Companion by J.E.A. Tyler with a jacket picturing the Glittering Caves, painted by Ted Nasmith, and a copy of Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. I started reading the latter book that night, and looked at several entries in the first of the two that night as well. Close to the beginning of each book, there was a runic inscription. In J.C.E., it was Arne Saknussem's encoded manuscript, explaining (as it later turned out) how to reach the center of the earth. Right away, I recognized some of the letters in the document (which according to Professor Lindenbrock, were Old Icelandic runes) as those found in the Appendixes of LotR, the dwarf version known as Angerthas, and in its original form known as Certhas. I looked in the Tolkien Companion, and found right away that at least one of the letters matched (it didn't have the full script like the appendix, which I no longer have, just the enscription on Balin's tomb). When I post the pictures tomorrow, you will see the letter that I recognized immediately, however pixillated it will be. Please post away if you know. I will just insert the pics into this post. __________________ KI6PFA Amateur Radio Operator Last edited by trolls' bane : 03-12-2005 at 10:46 PM.

03-13-2005, 07:10 AM	#2
*Earniel* The Chocoholic Sea Elf Administrator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: N?n in Eilph (Belgium) Posts: 14,363	Yes, Tolkien's Angerthas are based on existing runes (I usually call them Viking runes). The original runes (or at least a sort of runes where I'm aware of) are called Futhark (or Futhork according to different books), the name comes from the first runes in their alphabet, much like our ABC. Some of the runes of Tolkien's Angerthas are exact copies of existing Futhark-runes, they only have a different sound value. __________________ We are not things.

03-13-2005, 06:48 PM	#3
trolls' bane Entmoot Secretary of the Treasury Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Campsite-by-Giraffe Posts: 5,408	Oh, so I wasn't too far off when I guessed that a long time back (but that was before I had completely read LotR, back when I thought I wouldn't like it). __________________ KI6PFA Amateur Radio Operator