Did Germanics use to have an alphabet before adopting the Latin one, or they were illiterates?
Germanic alphabet ?
I think the thorn and eth in the Icelandic alphabet (as well as Old English) are relics of runes. So is the yogh. But I could well be wrong.
Brennus, runes in the sense of the the Elder and Younger Futharks, the Futhorc, and other closely related scripts were used only for writing Germanic languages. As for Slavic languages, while there are small hints that some sort of writing system may have been used in areas of pre-Christian Slavic-speaking Eastern Europe, we really do not know anything about them, unlike runes proper.
>>I think the thorn and eth in the Icelandic alphabet (as well as Old English) are relics of runes. So is the yogh. But I could well be wrong.<<
The thorn and the wynn (replaced in most written Old English today with "w") in written Old English were derived from runes, but the eth is just a crossbarred "d"; the reason why the lowercase eth has a curved horizontal line is because that is how "d" was written at the time the eth was introduced, and unlike the "d" this never got straightened out later on.
The thorn and the wynn (replaced in most written Old English today with "w") in written Old English were derived from runes, but the eth is just a crossbarred "d"; the reason why the lowercase eth has a curved horizontal line is because that is how "d" was written at the time the eth was introduced, and unlike the "d" this never got straightened out later on.
It's often very fascinating how the runes convey messages from the Dark Ages, like the inscription on the Norwegian Eggjum stone, from the first half of the 8th century:
Transcription of the runes:
nissolusotuknisaksestain
skorinni????maRnak danisniþ
rinRniwiltiRmanRlagi??
??????galande
In standard Old Norse spelling:
Ni's sólu sótt ok ni saxe stæin skorinn.
Ni (læggi) mannR nækðan, is niþ rinnR,
Ni viltiR mænnR læggi ax
Suggested translation:
No sun sought and no sax (= knife) stone scarred
No man lay it nude as the niþ runs
No bewildered men lay it aside
The inscription is probably a spell against uncovering or removal of the stone.
Transcription of the runes:
nissolusotuknisaksestain
skorinni????maRnak danisniþ
rinRniwiltiRmanRlagi??
??????galande
In standard Old Norse spelling:
Ni's sólu sótt ok ni saxe stæin skorinn.
Ni (læggi) mannR nækðan, is niþ rinnR,
Ni viltiR mænnR læggi ax
Suggested translation:
No sun sought and no sax (= knife) stone scarred
No man lay it nude as the niþ runs
No bewildered men lay it aside
The inscription is probably a spell against uncovering or removal of the stone.