RUNIC. 



to a furrow, or channel, would eafily fuggeft the appella- 

 tion. Others, however, derive the term from ryne, figni- 

 fying art, efpecially that of magic. 



Some have been of opinion that Gulphilas, or Ulphilas, 

 a Gothic bifhop, about the year 370, was the firft in- 

 ventor of the Runic character : but Olaus Wormius mews 

 at large, that Ulphilas could only be the firll who taught 

 it to foreigners ; for that the Runce, or charaCler3 themfelves, 

 were older than he. 



In reality, Ulphilas, according to other authors, was fo 

 far even from teaching the character, that he invented an 

 alphabet of his own, on purpofe to put the Runic charac- 

 ters, which had been made fubfervient to the fuperftitions 

 of heathenifm, out of ufe. See Gothic CharaBer. 



Many learned writers have adopted the opinion, firft 

 fuggefted by Dr. Hickes, that the Runic character was 

 borrowed from the Roman, and they farther maintain, that 

 it was not known in the North before the introduction of 

 Cbriftianity. If it were allowed, that the Runic characters 

 are borrowed from the Roman alphabet, it by no means 

 follows, that the Scandinavians had waited for the fecret 

 till the introduction of Chriftianity among them : but it is 

 juftly obferved by Wormius, that they are as eafily reducible 

 to the Greek and Hebrew alphabets as to the Roman. 

 An evident proof that the Runic were not derived from 

 the Roman letters, refults not only from their form, which 

 has fcarcely any refemblance to thefe, but from their number 

 (being but 16), and their order and names, which have 

 nothing in common with the Roman, Greek, or Gothic 

 characters of Ulphilas. A comparative view of the Runic 

 and Gothic in thefe refpeCts may be feen in the Englilh 

 tranflation of Mallet's Northern Antiquities, vol. i. p. 370. 

 M. Mallet has fufficiently fliewn, that all the old chronicles 

 and poems of the North univerfally agree in afligning to 

 the Runic characters a very remote antiquity, and in attri- 

 buting the invention of them to Odin or Woden himfelf, 

 whom their poets exprefsly call the inventor of the Runes. 

 Befides, inftances occur of princes and pagan heroes, who 

 made ufe of this character in an age long before Chrifti- 

 anity had penetrated into the North. 



Tn Blekingia, a province of Sweden, there is a road cut 

 through a rock, on which are various Runic characters, 

 faid to have been engraved there by king Harold Hylde- 

 tand, in honour of his father ; and king Harold is faid to 

 have afcended the throne about the beginning of the feventh 

 century. It is, therefore, extremely probable that Odin 

 introduced the Runic characters into the North, intending 

 by the introduction of letters and writing to acquire refpeCt 

 from the rude uncivilized inhabitants of Scandinavia ; who 

 would be ready enough to conceive that there was fome- 

 thing divine or magical in them. Accordingly we find, 

 that they were aCtually employed, in fpells and enchant- 

 ments, for the pretended purpofe of working prodigies. 



A few years before the birth of Chrift, as it has been faid, 

 foon after Mithridates had been overthrown by Pompey, a 

 nation of Afiatic Goths, who poffefled that region of Afia 

 which is now called Georgia, and is connected on the fouth 

 with Perfia, alarmed at the progrefiive encroachments of 

 the Roman armies, retired in vail multitudes under the 

 conduct of their leader Odin, or Woden, into the northern 

 parts of Europe, not fubjeCt to the Roman government, 

 and fettled in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and other dif- 

 triCts of the Scandinavian territory. As they brought with 

 them many ufeful arts, particularly the knowledge of 

 letters, which Odin is faid to have invented, they were 

 hofpitably received by the natives, and by degrees acquired 

 a fafe and peaceable eftablilhment in the new country, 

 which feems to have adopted their language, laws, and re- 



ligion. Odin is faid to have been Ityled a god by the ScjU ■ 



dinavians ; an appellation which the fuperior addrefs and 

 fpecious abilities of this Afiatic chief eafily extorted from 

 a more favage and uncivilized people. 



This migration is confirmed by the concurrent teftimo- 

 nies of various hiftorians : but there is no better evidence 

 of it, than that confpicuous fimilarity fubfilting at this day 

 between feveral cuttoms of the Georgians, as defcribed by 

 Chardin, and thofe of certain cantons of Norway and 

 Sweden, which have preferved their ancient manners in the 

 pureft degree. Not that other linking implicit and in- 

 ternal proofs, which often carry more conviCtion than direCt 

 hiiloricalaflertions, are wanting to point out this migration. 

 The ancient inhabitants of Denmark and Norway inferibed 

 the exploits of their kings and heroes on rocks, in charac- 

 ters called Runic ; and of this practice many marks are 

 faid itill to remain in thofe countries. This art or cuftom 

 of writing on rocks is Afiatic. Modern travellers report, 

 that there are Runic inferiptions now exiiting in the deferts 

 of Tartary. (See Voyage par Strahlemberg, &c. A 

 Defcription of the northern and ealtern parte of Europe 

 and Afia. ) Schroder fays, from Olaus Rudbeckius, that 

 Runes, or letters, were invented by Magog the Scythian, 

 and communicated to Tuifco, the celebrated German chief- M 

 tain, in the year of the world 1799- (Prsef. ad Lexicon 

 Latino-Scandic.) The written mountains of the Jews are 

 an inftance that this falhion was oriental. On the fubjeCt of 

 this migration, allowed by fome writers and contelled by 

 others, fee the articles Goths and Odin. 



The Runic characters were diitinguilhed into various 

 kinds. The noxieus, or bitter Runes were employed to 

 bring various evils on their enemies ; the favourable averted 

 misfortunes ; the -viSorious produced conqueft to thofe who 

 ufed them ; the medicinal were inferibed on the leaves of 

 trees for healing ; others ferved to difpel melancholy 

 thoughts, to prevent (hipwreck, as antidotes againit poifon, 

 as prefervatives againft the refentment of their enemies, and 

 in order to render a miftrefs favourable. Thefe various 

 kinds differed only in the ceremonies obferved in writing 

 them, in the materials on which they were written, in the 

 place where they were expofed, in the manner in which the 

 lines were drawn, whether in the form of a circle, a ferpent, 

 or a triangle, &c. 



The Runic characters were alfo employed for more 

 rational purpofes : for writing epiftles and epitaphs, and 

 for various kinds of inferiptions, which, the older they are, 

 fo much the better are they engraven. They are rarely 

 written from the right hand to the left ; but it is not un- 

 common to meet with the line running from the top to the 

 bottom, after the manner of the Chinefe and other Indian 

 nations ; or from the top to the bottom, and then turning 

 round to the left, and fo up again to the place it begins 

 at ; or elfe from the left to the right, and fo back to the 

 left again, which was the manner of the early Greeks. 

 The greater part of the ancient monuments written in the 

 Runic character, which are ftill preferved, confifts of in- 

 feriptions difperfed here and there in the fields, and cut out 

 on large ltones or pieces of rock. They are alfo found in 

 churches, and fometimes in other buildings. 



The Saxons, who were fond of tracing the defcent of 

 their princes from Odin, and who became pofteflors of 

 England in the fixth century, imported into this country 

 the old Runic language and letters. This appears from in- 

 feriptions on coins, ftones, and other monuments, and from, 

 fome of their MSS. 



There are fome Runic medals in the clofets of the cu- 

 rious ; and fome modern Danifh and Englilh medals, the 

 inferiptions of which are Latin, and the character Runic. 



There 



