Editing Runology

{{Short description|Study of Runic alphabets}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{About||the social phenomenon in China derived from the English word "run"|Run (meme)}}
[[Image:Runstav.png|thumb|right|Children being taught a runic alphabet (1555), from [[Olaus Magnus]]'s ''[[Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus]]'']]
'''Runology''' is the study of the [[runic alphabet]]s, runic inscriptions, and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of [[Germanic languages|Germanic linguistics]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/runology|title=Definition of RUNOLOGY|website=www.merriam-webster.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.runforum.nordiska.uu.se/runecast/episode-1/|title=Episode 1: Basics of runology and the origins of runic writing|first=Maja|last=Bäckvall|date=25 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Runology and historical sociolinguistics: On runic writing and its social history in the first millennium|first=Michael|last=Schulte|date=1 May 2015|journal=Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics|volume=1|issue=1|pages=87–110|doi=10.1515/jhsl-2015-0004|s2cid=162692466|doi-access=free}}</ref>

==History==
Runology was initiated by [[Johannes Bureus]] (1568–1652), who was interested in the linguistics of the ''[[Geat]]ish language'' (''Götiska språket''), i.e. [[Old Norse]]. However, he did not look at the runes as merely an alphabet, but rather something holy or magical.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110922981.453/pdf|doi = 10.1515/9783110922981.453|chapter = Johannes Bureus and the Runic Traditions|title = Das fuþark und seine einzelsprachlichen Weiterentwicklungen|year = 2006|last1 = Stille|first1 = PER| pages=453–458 |isbn = 9783110922981}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|url=http://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8521903|title=A Pilgrimage to the Past : Johannes Bureus and the Rise of Swedish Antiquarian Scholarship, 1600-1650|first=Matthew|last=Norris|date=10 July 2016|publisher=Lund University|type=thesis/docmono|via=lup.lub.lu.se}}</ref>

The study of runes was continued by [[Olaus Rudbeck|Olof Rudbeck the Elder]] (1630–1702) and presented in his collection ''Atlantica''. The [[physicist]] [[Anders Celsius]] (1701–1744) further extended the science of runes and traveled around Sweden to examine the ''bautastenar'' ([[megaliths]], today termed [[runestone]]s). Another early treatise is the 1732 ''Runologia'' by [[Jón Ólafsson of Grunnavík]].
 
The sundry runic scripts were well understood by the 19th century, when their analysis became an integral part of the [[Germanic studies|Germanic philology]] and [[historical linguistics]].
[[Wilhelm Grimm]] published his ''Über deutsche Runen'' in 1821, where among other things he dwelt upon the "[[Marcomannic runes]]" (chapter 18, pp.&nbsp;149–159). In 1828, he published a supplement, titled ''Zur Literatur der Runen'', where he discusses the ''[[Abecedarium Nordmannicum]]''.

[[Sveriges runinskrifter]] was published from 1900. The dedicated journal ''Nytt om runer'' has been published by the "Runic Archives" of the Museum of Cultural History at the [[University of Oslo]] from 1985. The [[Rundata]] project, aiming at a machine-readable catalogue of runic inscriptions, was initiated in 1993.

==See also==
*[[Bautil]]
*[[List of runestones]]
*[[List of runologists]]
*[[Runic transliteration and transcription]]
*[[Sveriges runinskrifter]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Runes}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Runology| ]]
[[Category:Germanic studies]]


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