So I was looking at the cover of The Game Master's Book of Random Encounters and I noticed, what looked like, dragon script or something. So I'm just curious if it actually translates to anything. Because the alphabet I found that matched the symbols didn't translate it into English, and Google was no help haha.
I did a Google picture search on that and found it was not unique, it is also used here: https://wraptrack.org/Catalog/model/44155 that font is used on some wraps made to hold infants and babies.
I then played a hunch, cause I did not know what they were either, but now I do. They are Viking Runes. You can buy a fancy wall-hung translation from Amazon:
The alphabet is a mix of the Elder Futhark (used by Germanic people from the 2nd through 10th Century, including in Scandinavia) and the Younger Futhark (used by the Scandinavian people from approximately the 9th century to the 12th Century), using runes interchangeably from both alphabets (the P shaped rune in the first word is from the Elder, the S shaped rune appears in the Younger). That dates the specific era they were going for to the 7th or 8th Century, when Scandinavia was transitioning between the two alphabets.
Translated to the English alphabet it would read LWE GOSUMARSTWE - with the caveat that some runic letters had different sound profiles than those we are used to in English.
Hello!
So I was looking at the cover of The Game Master's Book of Random Encounters and I noticed, what looked like, dragon script or something. So I'm just curious if it actually translates to anything. Because the alphabet I found that matched the symbols didn't translate it into English, and Google was no help haha.
Thank you!
- S
I did a Google picture search on that and found it was not unique, it is also used here: https://wraptrack.org/Catalog/model/44155 that font is used on some wraps made to hold infants and babies.
I then played a hunch, cause I did not know what they were either, but now I do. They are Viking Runes. You can buy a fancy wall-hung translation from Amazon:
Viking Rune Wall Art
"Dovie'andi se tovya sagain" - R.Jordan
The alphabet is a mix of the Elder Futhark (used by Germanic people from the 2nd through 10th Century, including in Scandinavia) and the Younger Futhark (used by the Scandinavian people from approximately the 9th century to the 12th Century), using runes interchangeably from both alphabets (the P shaped rune in the first word is from the Elder, the S shaped rune appears in the Younger). That dates the specific era they were going for to the 7th or 8th Century, when Scandinavia was transitioning between the two alphabets.
Translated to the English alphabet it would read LWE GOSUMARSTWE - with the caveat that some runic letters had different sound profiles than those we are used to in English.