Elder futhark script
The original Germanic runic alphabet, the 24-type elder futhark script, dating from approximately the year 200, is often called the "rune line" and was organized in 3 groups of 8 runes each, called ätter (families, clans); Freyr's ätt, Hagal's ätt and Tyr's ätt respectively. The name "futhark" was derived from the initial phoneme of the first seven rune names in the following list, which phonemes are in bold font). In one well known reconstruction the first row consists of fehu, urûz, Þurisaz (thurisaz), ansuz, raidô, kaunan, gebô, and wunjô. The second row consists of haglaz, naudiz, îsaz, jera, îwaz, perþô, algiz, and sôwilô. The third row consists of tîwaz, berkanan, ehwaz, mannaz, laukaz, ingwaz, dagaz, and finally ôþalan.
The runes were very angular, and were most often carved or incised into a hard surface; wood, stone or sometimes metal.The futharks experience local variations: runes may be mirrored, twisted around 90 degrees or smoothed (so that the o-rune may start to look more like a loop).
Note: The thorn character (þ) is transliterated to th in modern English.
