Editing Cirth (section)

=== Runes from ''The Hobbit'' ===
<!-- [[File:Hobbit cover.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Runes around the edges of the cover of ''The Hobbit'' are a transliteration of English, giving information about the book.]] -->

According to Tolkien himself, those found in ''[[The Hobbit]]'' are a form of "English runes" used in lieu of the Dwarvish runes proper.<ref name="Hobbit">{{cite book |title=[[The Hobbit]]|first=J.R.R. |last=Tolkien |author-link=J.R.R. Tolkien |publisher=London: George Allen & Unwin. |year=1937}}</ref> They can be interpreted as an attempt made by Tolkien to adapt the [[Fuþorc]] (i.e., the [[Old English]] runic alphabet) to the [[Modern English]] language.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.tolkienestate.com/en/learning/languages-and-writing-systems/writing-systems.html |title= Writing Systems |first=Arden R. |last=Smith |author-link=Arden R. Smith |website= The Tolkien Estate |quote= The runic alphabet used on Thror's Map and elsewhere in The Hobbit is not the Angerthas, but is rather the futhorc used by the Anglo-Saxons in England over a thousand years ago, adapted by Tolkien for the representation of modern English. |access-date= December 30, 2020}}</ref>

These runes are basically the same found in Fuþorc, but their sound may change according to their position, just like the letters of the [[Latin script]]: the writing mode used by Tolkien is, in this case, mainly orthographic.<ref name="Lindberg">{{cite web |url= http://www.forodrim.org/daeron/runes-eng.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725065431/http://www.forodrim.org/daeron/runes-eng.pdf |archive-date=2008-07-25 |url-status=live |title= Tolkien English Runes|last= Lindberg|first= Per|date= 2016-11-27|website= forodrim.org|access-date= 2019-03-27}}</ref> This means that the system has one rune for each Latin letter, regardless of pronunciation.<ref name="Lindberg"/> For example, the rune [[File:Certh 13.svg|16px]] {{angbr|c}} can sound {{IPAc-en|k}} in {{angbr|'''c'''over}}, {{IPAc-en|s}} in {{angbr|sin'''c'''ere}}, {{IPAc-en|ʃ}} in {{angbr|spe'''c'''ial}}, and even {{IPAc-en|tʃ}} in the digraph {{nowrap|[[File:Certh 13.svg|16px]][[File:Certh 47.svg|16px]]}} {{angbr|ch}}.<ref>{{cite letter | first = J.R.R. | last = Tolkien | author-link = J.R.R. Tolkien | recipient = Katherine Farrer | subject = Letter 112 | date = November 30, 1947 | url = https://arda.saloon.jp/?plugin=attach&refer=The%20Letters%20of%20J.R.R.Tolkien%2FLetter%20112&openfile=letter112_tolkien.jpg | access-date = December 31, 2020 }}</ref>

A few sounds are instead written with the same rune, without considering the English spelling. For example, the sound {{IPAc-en|ɔː}} is always written with the rune [[File:Certh 24.svg|16px]] whether in English it is spelt {{angbr|o}} as in {{angbr|n'''o'''rth}}, {{angbr|a}} as in {{angbr|f'''a'''ll}}, or {{angbr|oo}} as in {{angbr|d'''oo'''r}}. The only two letters that are subject to this phonemic spelling are {{angbr|a}} and {{angbr|o}}.<ref name="Lindberg"/>

Finally, some runes stand for particular English digraphs and diphthongs.<ref name="Hobbit"/><ref name="Lindberg"/>

Here the runes used in ''The Hobbit'' are displayed along with their Fuþorc counterpart and corresponding English grapheme:

{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
!Rune!!Fuþorc!!English grapheme
| rowspan="17"|
!Rune!!Fuþorc!!English grapheme
|- align="center"
|[[File:Tolkien's Futhorc A.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚪ}} ||rowspan=2|''phonemic''{{ref|ph|[i]}}
|[[File:Certh 2.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚱ}}||{{angbr|r}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 9.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚫ}}
|[[File:Certh 40.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛋ}}||{{angbr|s}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 6.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛒ}}||{{angbr|b}}
|[[File:Certh 12.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛏ}}||{{angbr|t}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 13.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚳ}}||{{angbr|c}}
|[[File:Certh 48.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚢ}}||{{angbr|u}}, {{angbr|v}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 38.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛞ}}||{{angbr|d}}
|[[File:Certh 1.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚹ}}||{{angbr|w}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Tolkien's Futhorc E.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛖ}}||{{angbr|e}}
|[[File:Certh 22.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛉ}}||{{angbr|x}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Tolkien's Futhorc F.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚠ}}||{{angbr|f}}, {{angbr|ph}}
|[[File:Certh AU.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚣ}}||{{angbr|y}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 36.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚷ}}||{{angbr|g}}
|[[File:Certh 17.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛣ}}||{{angbr|z}}{{ref|HZ|[iii]}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 47.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚻ}}||{{angbr|h}}
|[[File:Certh 57.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚦ}}||{{angbr|th}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 39.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛁ}}||{{angbr|i}}, {{angbr|j}}
|[[File:Certh 27.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛠ}}||{{angbr|ea}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Tolkien's Futhorc K.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛱ}} {{ref|H|[ii]}}||{{angbr|k}}
|[[File:Tolkien's Futhorc ST.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛥ}}||{{angbr|st}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 8.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛚ}}||{{angbr|l}}
|[[File:Certh 42.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛟ}}||{{angbr|ee}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Tolkien's Futhorc M.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛗ}}||{{angbr|m}}
|[[File:Certh 43.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛝ}}||{{angbr|ng}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 32.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚾ}}||{{angbr|n}}
|[[File:Tolkien's Futhorc EO.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛇ}}||{{angbr|eo}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 24.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᚩ}}||''phonemic''{{ref|ph|[i]}}
|[[File:Certh 5.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛳ}} {{ref|H|[ii]}}||{{angbr|oo}}
|- align="center"
|[[File:Certh 28.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛈ}}||{{angbr|p}}
|[[File:Certh 41.svg|20px]]||{{script|Runr|ᛲ}} {{ref|H|[ii]}}||{{angbr|sh}}
|}

'''Notes:'''
{{ordered list|list-style-type=lower-roman
 | {{note|ph||This table summarises the transcription of English {{angbr|a}} and {{angbr|o}} in runes:<ref name="Lindberg"/>}}
}}
{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! English grapheme
! Sound value<br/><small>([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]])</small>
! Rune
|- align="center"
| rowspan="3" | {{angbr|a}}
| {{IPAc-en|æ}}
| [[File:Certh 9.svg|20px]]
|- align="center"
| every other sound
| [[File:Tolkien's Futhorc A.svg|20px]]
|- align="center"
| {{IPAc-en|ɔː}}
| rowspan=3 | [[File:Certh 24.svg|20px]]
|- align="center"
| {{angbr|o}}
| every sound
|- align="center"
| rowspan="2" | {{angbr|oo}}
| {{IPAc-en|ɔː}}
|- align="center"
| every other sound
| [[File:Certh 5.svg|21px]]
|}
{{ordered list|start=2|list-style-type=lower-roman
  | {{note|H||The three runes {{nowrap|[[File:Tolkien's Futhorc K.svg|16px]],}} {{nowrap|[[File:Certh 5.svg|16px]],}} and [[File:Certh 41.svg|16px]] were invented by Tolkien and are not attested in real-life Fuþorc.}}
  | {{note|HZ||According to Tolkien, this is a "dwarf-rune" which "may be used if required" as an addendum to the English runes.<ref name="Hobbit"/>}}
  | Tolkien commonly writes the [[Pronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩|English digraph {{angbr|wh}}]] (pronounced {{IPA|en|ʍ||generic=yes}} in some [[Variety (linguistics)|varieties]] of English) as {{nowrap|[[File:Certh 47.svg|16px]][[File:Certh 1.svg|16px]]}} {{angbr|hw}}.
  | There is no rune to transliterate {{angbr|q}}: the digraph {{angbr|qu}} (representing the sound {{IPA|en|kʷw||generic=yes}}, like in {{angbr|'''qu'''een}}) is always written as {{nowrap|[[File:Certh 13.svg|16px]][[File:Certh 1.svg|16px]]}} {{angbr|cw}}, reflecting the [[Old English#Orthography|Anglo-Saxon spelling]] {{angbr|{{Script|Latg|cƿ}}}}.
}}