King Chilperic I's letters (ΔΘZΨ) may be found

at the beginning (“Futha”) of the runic alphabet

and at the end (WIJZÆ) of the Danish alphabet
Joannes Richter

ᚠᚢÞ ᚫ ᚱ ᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛟ ᛞ
f u þ a r k g w h n i j æp z s t b e ml ŋ o d
ᚢ ᚬ ᛅ
ᚠ u/ ᚦ ą, ᚱ ᚴ ᛁ
ᚼ ᚾ i, a, ᛦ ᛋ ᛏt, ᛒ —ᛘ ᛚ ———
f/ w, þ,
o, r
k,
æ,
b,
y, h n ʀ s m l
v o, ð g e d p
æ e
ø

Table 1: Elder Futhark and Younger Futhark (from Wikipedia's Younger Futhark)

ᚹ Θ Z Ψ
uui ω the ae
Table 2 Additional letters of king Chilperic I (c. 539 – 584)

J U W (& ⁊)
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z Ƿ Þ Ð Æ

Table 3 Old English Latin alphabet

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Æ Ø Å
Table 4 The Danish-Norse alphabet
Overview of the symbolic links between the Futhark alphabets, Chilperic I's letters,
the Old-English and Danish-Norse alphabets.
Abstract
Title: King Chilperic I's letters (ᚹΘZΨ or ΔΘZΨ) may be found at the beginning (ᚠᚢᚦᚫ,
“Futha”) of the runic alphabet and at the end (WIJZÆ) of the Danish-Norse alphabet.
The Futhark alphabet seems to consist of the first three characters ᚠᚢᚦ (“Futh”) to be followed by a
fourth character ᚨ (“A”), which represents the initial character for the “alphabetical” (“AIΩ”)-
section.
In Germanic languages a number of ligatures U&U → W, I&J → IJ, A&E → Æ, etc. concentrates
in the range of the ᚠᚢᚦᚨ - Header (“Futha”). Some of these special letters (Ƿ Þ Ð Æ), are also found
at the end of the Danish-Norse alphabet and at the end of the Old English Latin alphabet.
On a local scale the word Æ still is being used as a symbol for eternity, law, matrimony and the
personal pronoun of the 1st person singular. Although the ligature Æ has been introduced later the
symbolism may have been represented earlier by a simple character ᚨ (“A”). Eventually the shape
of the ligature Æ may be understood as the concentrated symbolism of the creation legend for Ask
& Embla in a singular letter Æ.
One of the interesting traces of these symbolisms may be found in the four additional letters
(ᚹΘZΨ or ΔΘZΨ), which had been introduced to the Latin alphabet by the Merovingian king
Chilperic I (c. 539 – 584).1
This essay concentrates on the end of some of the Germanic alphabets, which contain dedicated
special letters (such as Ƿ Þ Ð Æ Ø W IJ).

1 The Role of the Ligature Æ in the European Creation Legend

Historical Context
There are plenty of reasons to define the ligature Æ as the sacred core of the Germanic alphabet as
the word is being used as a symbol for eternity, law, matrimony and the personal pronoun Æ of the
1st person singular.

The introduction of the letter Æ

Unfortunately Æ is not found at the beginning of the alphabet but at the fourth position, in which it
obviously did not start from the beginning (Elder Futhark), but only at the beginning of the Futhorc-
era.
Since the Futhorc runes are thought to have first been used in Frisia before the Anglo-
Saxon settlement of Britain, they have also been called Anglo-Frisian runes.[1] They
were likely used from the 5th century onward, recording Old English and Old Frisian.

The runes were gradually supplanted in Anglo-Saxon England by the Old English Latin
alphabet introduced by Irish missionaries. Futhorc runes were no longer in common use
by the eleventh century, though manuscripts show that fairly accurate understanding of
them persisted into at least the twelfth century.

The Old English Latin alphabet

In the year 1011, a writer named Byrhtferð ordered the Old English alphabet for numerological
purposes.[2] He listed the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet (including et ligature) first, then 5
additional English letters, starting with the Tironian note ond (⁊), resulting in a list of 29 symbols.2
The extra English symbols included ðæt ⟨ð⟩ (in modern English eth or edh), the &-conjunction, the
Tironian note et (7), the runic symbol thorn ⟨þ⟩ including the thorn with a small cross Ꝥ (lower case:
ꝥ)3 and wynn ⟨ƿ⟩:
A B C D E F G H I (J) K L M N O P Q R S T (U) V (W) X Y Z (& ⁊) Ƿ Þ Ð Æ
The letters J, U and W are missing. The I represented the J, the V represented U and the Wynn ⟨ƿ⟩
represented the W or “double U”.

U
The Phoenician waw-letter was shaped like a rune ᚠ but was also used as a vowel named u-
psilon. In the course of time the shape transformed from Y to V, which was to be inherited to
the Romans. They did use the letter “V” for vowel sounds /oo/ and /u/ but also as the
consonant /w/4.

V
Initially the Roman phoneme changed from /w/ to /b/ as in the Latin word “taverna”, spoken
as “taberna”. In Norman French the /b/ changed to /v” as in the English word “tavern”5..

2 Source: Old English Latin alphabet

3 "þæt", in modern English "that"
4 A is for Ox – a short history of the Alphabet. - Lyn Davies (2004) (Letter U)
5 A is for Ox – a short history of the Alphabet. - Lyn Davies (2004) (Letter V)
 W
Initially the Normans replaced the wynne /w/ by a double u. By the 14 th century the two Us
joined to a singular letter, but the double VV-forms persisted. By the 19th century the double
Us had become widely accepted W.6

Y
Originally the Greek Y and the Roman I and U ruled the letter's adaption. By the fourth
century the Y began to replace the I. Around 1066 the Norman scribes used the Y to replace
the runic letter “yogh”. “Y” almost managed to replace the “I” altogether. Printing re-
established the “i” in many spellings, but the “y” was left in a number of words such as
“Henry”7.

Z
The letter “Z” has been adopted by the Romans and inherited to the Europeans. The letter Z
had been shaped in the suggestions of king Chilperic I.

The arrangement of the extra English symbols

The extra English symbols may also be rearranged at other positions in the alphabet, in which the
vowels are marked blue and the special symbols yellow. The letters Æ is both a vowel and a special
symbol.

Capital letters A Æ B C D Ð E F Ᵹ/G H I L M N O P R S T Þ U Ƿ/W X Y

Lower case letters a æ b c d ð e f ᵹ/g h i l m n o p r s/ſ t þ u ƿ/w x y
Source ae d g s þ ƿ
Interpretation ae d g s th w
Table 5 Majuscules (Capital letters) ans Minuscules (Lower case letters)

The Old English Latin alphabet starts with ABC...Z and ends with a series of special characters
which have been eliminated in the course of time. Four of these fundamental characters may be
compared with the four initial runes ᚠᚢᚦᚫ (“Futha”) in the Futhark alphabet:
ABCDEFGHIKLMNOPQRSTVXYZ &⁊ ǷÞÐÆ

Elder ᚠ ᚢ Þ ᚫ ᚱᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛟ ᛞ
Futhark f u þ a r k g w h n i j æ p z s t b e m l ŋ o d

ᚢ ᚦ ᚴ ᛁ ᛅ ᛏ ᛒ
Younger ᚠ ᚬ ᚱ ᚼ ᚾ ᛦ ᛋ ᛘ ᛚ
u/w, þ, k, — — i, a, — — t, b, — — — —
Futhark f/v ą, o, r h n ʀ s m l
y, o, ø ð g e æ, e d p
æ
Table 6 Elder Futhark and Younger Futhark (from Wikipedia's Younger Futhark)

6 A is for Ox – a short history of the Alphabet. - Lyn Davies (2004) (Letter W)

7 A is for Ox – a short history of the Alphabet. - Lyn Davies (2004) (Letter Z)
Comparing the Old English Latin letters Ƿ Ð Þ Æ with the initial letters ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚫ (“Futha”) in the
Futhark alphabet, the letter Ƿ represents the rune ᚠ in Futhark). The letter ᚦ is easily located at the
third place and the ligature Æ represents the Aesc-rune ᚫ. In Dutch language the letter ᚢ may be
represented by the long letter Y in the ligature IJ.
The concentrated set of fundamental symbols Ƿ Ð Þ Æ, which originally had been arranged at the
beginning of the Futhark alphabet as ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚫ (“Futha”), obviously belonged to the philosophical
core of the Germanic Futhorc-alphabet.
The special character, in English Æ, Ƿ Ð Þ, in Danish - Norse Ø W as well as in Dutch IJ (and in
German probably also: ä, ö, ü?) belonged to these fundamental symbols.
The region “Frisia”
A part of the Germanic languages which relied on the Futhorc-alphabet originally has been
associated with the region “Frisia” (in Dutch: “Groter-Friesland”).
The activity in the usage of the Futhorc-alphabet is dated in the range from the 5th to the 12th century
AD.

1: Frisia in Northwestern Europe

published by Ætoms as “Own work”, using [1]
(license : CC BY-SA 4.0)

The letters of the Merovingian king Chilperic I (c. 539 – 584)

The idea of a special character Æ as the sacred core of the Germanic alphabet may have been
restricted to the region “Frisia” and a period covering the 5th century onward to the twelfth century.
The Merovingian king Chilperic I (c. 539 – 584) may have been involved in promoting the Æ-
symbol as one of his four additional letters in his proposal to extend the Latin alphabet. These extra
letters uui (as Δ or ᚹ8), ω (as Θ or ʘ), the (as Z) and æ (as Ψ) seem to be concentrated at the first
four letters of the Futhorc alphabet as the uui represents /w/, ω → /u/, the → ᚦ and æ → ᚨ (“A”).
Chilperic I may have been the last sovereign who understood the runic symbolism and may have
tried to save some of the symbolism in the core of the Futhorc alphabet.

8 Wynn (Ƿ ƿ) - representing the sound /w/. While the earliest Old English texts represent this phoneme with the
digraph ⟨uu⟩, scribes soon borrowed the rune wynn ᚹ for this purpose.
The Ligature Æ

The core ”æ” for Eternity

The first male man may have been created as an image "ash" (rune ᚫ) of “Creator god” (rune ᚪ). The
name of the rune however is Æsc, in which the ligature raised my eyebrow.
Curiosity already had motivated me earlier to search for correlations between Adam & Eve, Ask &
Emblu and the ligature Æ.
Locally the creation legend may have symbolized the unified dual (androgynous) “Man” as Æ, in
which A = Ask and A = Embla,
This theory would explain why the western, northern and southwestern Norwegian dialects and the
western Danish dialects of Thy and Southern Jutland, use æ as a significant first person singular
pronoun I.
In Germanic languages the word Æ is used as a symbol of eternity and the “ego”-pronoun I, which
indicates a fundamental or even religious core-word:
• æ is documented as I (first-person singular pronoun) (In dialectal, Fjolde, Denmark) and in
“æ” in Anders Bjerrum and Marie Bjerrum (1974), Ordbog over Fjoldemålet, Copenhagen:
Akademisk Forlag. (Denmark)
• æ is documented as I (first-person singular personal pronoun) (dialectal, mostly found in
Trøndelag, northern Norway, and parts of western and southern Norway).
• æ is documented as always, forever in Middle English and Icelandic
• æ is documented in Old English as law, scripture ; ceremony, custom, marriage (Cognate
with Old Saxon êo, Old Frisian ewa, êwe, ê, â, Old High German êwa, êha, êa, ê (German
Ehe).
• æ is documented in Old Norse as ever, at any time ; From Proto-Germanic *aiwi
(“forever”). Cognate with Old English ā, āwa, ǣ, Old Saxon eo, io, ia, Old High German eo,
io.
As a keyword æ however also may belong to the general core of the vowel compositions, which
symbolize eternity in a globally spread area, including the languages Sumerian, Basque, Sami, etc.
Chilperic's additional letters
Chilperic I (c. 539 – 584) was the Merovingian king of Neustria (or Soissons) from 561 to his
death.
Most of what is known of Chilperic comes from The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours.
Chilperic's education involved religious and cultural themes. One of his studies concentrated on the
reformation of the Latin alphabet, which had been in use in the Merovingian court.
The extension of the alphabet has been specified as: uui (as a symbol Δ), ω (as a symbol Θ), the (as
a symbol Z), and æ (as a symbol Ψ).
Incidentally the additional four symbols uui (as Δ or ᚹ), ω (as Θ or ʘ), the (as Z) and æ (as Ψ)
match the initial four characters of the runic alphabet ᚠᚢᚦᚫᚱᚳ respectively ᚠᚢᚦᚬᚱᚳ (Younger
Futhark).
1st Rune 2nd Rune 3rd Rune 4th Rune
Runic symbol ᚠ (“F” or “W”) ᚢ (“U”) ᚦ (“Th”) ᚫ (“A” → “æ”)
Meaning uui ω the æ
Chilperic's symbol Δ or ᚹ Θ or ʘ Z Ψ

In this comparison I assume the initial rune ᚠ (the “F” in “Futhark”) represents a universal symbol
digamma (Ϝ, respectively in undercase: ϝ) which represents /w/ and also covers the phonemes /v/,
/f/, /u/, /y/. This may be the first letter of Chilperic's additional letters.
In the archaic religion the first 3 initial runes (“Futh” of “Wuth”), ᚠ (the digamma “ϝ”), “ᚢ”, “ᚦ”
represent a keyword consisting the personal pronoun (“wut” or “wit” = “we two”) and the key for
the word “wutan” (“Wodan”, “to wit”, “witness” → “insight”).

Runes interpreted as “Wodan”

The initial keyword “Wutha” (respectively “Futha”), which may be formed by concatenating
Chilperik's additional characters (ΔΘZΨ) more or less results in the word “Wioothæ” or
“Wodan”.9

Runes interpreted as “vitha” by the West Slavs

The initial 4-letter keyword ᚠᚢᚦᚫ of the Futharc alphabet may also be interpreted as “fuþa”. Runes
were called vitha by the West Slavs, which is a genetive of *vid or *vit meaning "image" or "side",
"facet" (referring to the multifaceted essence of the supreme God)10.
These alternatives “Wutha” respectively “Vitha” for the initial 4-letter keyword ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ of the
Futharc alphabet may have developed at different locations and various eras.
The first three character ᚠᚢᚦ may be considered as a unity “Futh”, whereas the fourth character ᚫ
behaves as a special keyword which evolved and developed itself in its own historical context.

9 The Keywords of the Futhark Alphabet and King Chilperic's 4 Letters...

10 Hanuš 1842, p. 381 - Die Wissenschaft des Slawischen Mythus im weitesten, den altpreussisch-lithauischen Mythus
mitumfassenden Sinne. Nach Quellen bearbeitet, sammt der Literatur der slawisch-preussisch-lithauischen
Archäologie und Mythologie (in German). J. Millikowski. - quoted in Deities of Slavic religion (Woda)
The identification of the “vitha” (ᚠᚢᚦᚫ)-runes in the alphabet

The origin of the „IJ“-ligature in the Dutch alphabet

At the 25th location the Dutch alphabet deviates from the standard Latin alphabet by using the
ligature IJ. The addition of special characters often may be the result of introducing and defining
old religious symbolism, which had to be preserved in the era of abandoning the pagan religions.
Samples of such symbols are found in almost all ancient variants of our Germanic languages such
as the Þ and Æ (æ) in Old English and the Icelandic alphabet. Apart from Þ and Æ (æ) the Old
English also uses the letters Ð (ð), Ᵹ/G (ᵹ/g), Ƿ/W (ƿ/w)11.
In Scandinavian languages we also identify the vowels Ø (ø) and Å (å). The Þ and æ generally
represent symbolic fundamentals, which were considered as relevant linguistic tools. De Þ
symbolized Thor and the æ symbolized “eternity”, “marriage”, “law” and “I” (the ego-pronoun in
several regions for the Danish-Norse dialects12).
The Dutch vowel IJ may have played a similar role in the Netherlands. The old-time religion
honored the rivers as deities and used the long vowels as names (such as Aa13, Ee). The rivers IJ and
Ijssel are based on this Dutch vowel IJ, which is considered as a long vowel in the sense of Aa and
Ee. The name IJ is cognate to (West-)Frisian Ae, Ee or Die. These roots refer to 'water' (cognate to
the French word eau for “water”).
Of course the words for “water” may be considered as more important in “water”-regions than in
arid regions. Similar words have been found in Sumer in which water was symbolized by a vowel
“a”. The vowel combinations IA (“ya”) and AI (“ay”) describe grandfather and great-grandfather,
respectively “eternity”14.
Compared to higher grounds the words for water may be classified as more important in the
lowlands. This is a classification which the Dutch and Mesopotamian people share,
Studying the Sumerian cuneiform language we may identify the word for water as a vowel “a”.
Inspecting the longer words we may find the runic words IA (“each”, “every”) and AI (“great-
grandfather”) in several languages describe the ancestors “grandfather” (in Sumerian aya) and
“great-grandfather” (Sumerian: “ayaya”, respectively the English words “aye” (“always, ever”) and
æ (“eternity”, in Greek: “aei”)15.
Of course I was aware of these correlations between the Mesopotamian (Ugaritic) and Germanic
(Dutch) languages but I still felt surprised to discover the letter IJ a special location between the H
and K in the Ugaritic alphabet.
The city-state of Ugarit (~1350 BCE–1200 BCE), equipped with an international harbor, has been
identified as one of the first locations in which a cuneiform alphabet had been developed. This late
Bronze Age alphabet contained 30 characters, 27 for consonants, 3 for the vowels a i o, which is a
remarkable feature for a Semitic system.
Another remarkable feature is the ABC-structure in this ancient Ugaritic alphabet, which in large
segments exactly seems to match the corresponding sections of the Latin alphabet, including the
vowels A, E, I, O, U. This is a remarkable theme, because we are supposed to have inherited our
alphabet from the Phoenician people, who designed an alphabet without vowels.

11 Of these letters, 20 were directly adopted from the Latin alphabet, two were modified Latin letters (Æ, Ð), and two
developed from the runic alphabet (Ƿ, Þ). The letters K, Q and Z were not in the spelling of native English words.
12 Æ Pronoun – (dialectal, Fjolde) I (first-person singular pronoun)
13 Aa (waternaam)
14 The Backbones of the Alphabets
15 The Backbones of the Alphabets
In “The Origin of the long IJ-symbol in the Dutch alphabet” I document and discuss the locations of
the letter IJ in the ancient Ugaritic alphabet in the middle of the alphabetic section ...H, I, J, K... of
the Dutch alphabet. I try to understand in how far the correlations indicate the correct location for
the letter-symbols IJ and Y between the H and K, respectively between X and Z.
The role of the trailing letters (WIJZÆ) in modern alphabets
Four fundamental cores may be identified in the runic set of symbols “vitha” (ᚠᚢᚦᚫ) and be joined
to form a set of Latin letters (WIJZÆ).
1. The Wunjō (/w/ for the ego-pronoun “wit” as “we both” and “to wit”) may belong to the
ancient symbols of the era in which the first rune “f” had been defined as a digamma Ϝ
(“/w/”). The phoneme /w/ with the digraph ⟨uu⟩ for the digamma in Wunjō may have
extended the phoneme towards the /v/ and /f/, which resulted in the name “Futhark”.
2. The letter “Thorn” (“th”) may be categorized as the consonant ᚦ, which is documented as
Chilperich's definition “the” and the graphical symbol “Z“ (as “Д ?).
3. The ligature Æ (“æ”) is a combination of A and E, which may be cognate to the Creation
Legend. In the Scandinavian languages “Æ” is still in use.
4. For the Dutch ligature IJ the runic symbol ᚢ (“U”) seems to be suitable partner. In Dutch
language the word “wijten” is related to the “long i”-vowel in “wītan”. In Latin the long
vowel (ꟾ) may be considered as the most important vowel in IU-piter.

These four symbols, which are found at the beginning of each runic alphabet mostly will be found
at the end of the modern alphabets as a set of individual trailing symbols (WIJZÆ).
One of these characters (the “Z”) is identifiable as Chilperic's letter “Z”. The “/W/” is cognate to the
Chilperic's description “uui” and the “Æ” is the ligature “æ” of “A” and “E”. These links seem to
deliver the evidence that Chilperic's additional letters have managed to intrude the Germanic
alphabets as the subset “WIJZÆ” in the Danish-Norse alphabet.
The Dano-Norwegian alphabet is: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Æ Ø
Å, in which the letters c, q, w, x and z will only be found in loanwords. 16

Runes (ᚠᚢᚦᚫ) as trailing letters ᚠ (“F”or“W”) ᚢ (“U”) ᚦ (“Th”) ᚫ (“A”→“æ”)

Gothic equivalents (yuþa) y (*wunjō ) u ?*ūruz þ a *ansuz
*thurisaz
English symbols (Ƿ Þ Ð Æ) in the Ƿ (Wunjo of Þ æ
Old English Latin alphabet Wynn) Ð
Chilperic's letters Δ or ᚹ Θ or ʘ Z Ψ
(ΔΘZΨ or ᚹΘZΨ) uui ω the æ
Danish-Norse symbols (æ ø å) ø Æ, å
German symbols (ä ö ü ß) Ö, ü ä

Dutch ligature (IJ) IJ

Latin fundamental vowel long vowel ꟾ
(the long vowel ꟾ)
De “Afsluitletters” “WIJZÆØÅ ” W IJ Z Æ
van het moderne Deense alfabet
Table 7 Special symbols in European languages, which may belong to the philosophical core

16 The Danish and Norwegian alphabet, called the Dano-Norwegian alphabet

The ligature W
In Germanic languages the ligature W may often be identified as “double U”
The Gothic letters may have been involved in the definition, such as:
• The Gothic letter “W” (uuinne) representing Ypsilon and the rune Wunjo ᚹ.
In the Dutch word weten (cognate to “to wit”) the double U is identified as “W”: “Got thu uueist
unuuiti mine” ‘God, u kent mijn onwetendheid’ (“God, You know my ignorance”).17

The Dutch IJ-ligature

In order to categorize the Dutch IJ-ligature as a fundamental, religious core we will have to sarch
for relevant fundamental words. The word “weten” (cognate to “to wit”) is related to “wijten”,
although the translation of “wijten” shifted towards “guarding”, “punishment” and “forgiving”.
Strange as it may seem there is an English word to twit, which is based on wijten.
In Dutch we may identify four relevant fundamental words with an IJ-ligature:
• "wijten” (→ “to blame”)
• "verwijten” (→ to blame, to rebuke, to twit) – [verb: verwijten - verweet – verweten ]
• "kwijt” (→ “lost”)
• "kwijt raken” (→ “to be freed of”, “to get rid of”) → “to quit”
• "kwijten” (→ “to take care of”)
• "kwijtschelden” (→ to absolve , to forgive ) [verb: kwijtschelden schold kwijt|
kwijtgescholden]
• "to quit” (→ To pay (a debt, fine etc.) ) - Compare Dutch kwijten (“to quit”), Low German
quitten (“to quit”), German quitten, quittieren18, Danish kvitte, Swedish qvitta, kvitta (“to
quit, leave, set off”), Icelandic kvitta. Also: To stop, give up (an activity)
• "quite” (→ absolutely, fully, thoroughly, totally, utterly)
In an earlier essay (in Dutch) I dedicated some attention to the Dutch IJ-ligature 19. Based on this
analysis the impact of the “IJ” is comparable to the extra symbols in English (Ƿ Þ Ð Æ) and
Chilperic I's letters (ΔΘZΨ or ᚹΘZΨ).

The long vowel ꟾ in Latin

The long vowel ꟾ in Latin, the sequence of the letters I and J in the Ugaritic alphabet and the
samples of the words wijten, verwijten, kwijt, kwijten, kwijtschelden, to quit and quite are
convincing enough to consider the long I (or the Dutch equivalent of the ligature IJ) as the most
important letter but not enough to explain the symbolism .

17 weten (kennis hebben, begrijpen) – Bronverwijzing:

Sijs, Nicoline van der (samensteller) (2010), Etymologiebank, op http://etymologiebank.nl/
18 Quittung – (German: a bill)
19 Over de oorsprong van de „Lange IJ“ in het Nederlandse alfabet
The long vowel in Latin
In Latin four vowels (a, e, o, v) may be transformed to long vowels by marking the symbols by a
Macron (diacritic): á é ó vv (→ /aː eː oː uː/). In contrast the long vowel I used a special taller symbol
⟨”ꟾ”⟩ to illustrate the highest rank to the smallest letter “i” (“I”). 20 Indeed the long letter”ꟾ” was taller
than “I”.

Fig. 2: The word Nemausi is equipped with a long I

Roman inscription, dated ca. AD 100,
Scriptura con apices Nimes 1750.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (author QuartierLatin1968, 2010).

The letter Z
The letter Z may have been introduced as an extra letter by Chilperic I as a gift to the Alemannic
(southern west German and northern Swiss) population, which honored the sky god Týr as Ziu21.
In Germanic mythology, Týr (Old Norse), Tíw (Old English), and Ziu (Old High
German) is a god. Stemming from the Proto-Germanic deity *Tīwaz and ultimately
from the Proto-Indo-European deity *Dyeus, little information about the god survives
beyond Old Norse sources. Due to the etymology of the god's name and the shadowy
presence of the god in the extant Germanic corpus, some scholars propose that Týr may
have once held a more central place among the deities of early Germanic mythology. 22

20 Source (Wikipedia): Long I

21 Old High German
22 Source (Wikipedia): Týr
The *Ansuz (rune)

Plurality (or duality?)

In Old Norse, ǫǫss (or áss, ás, plural æsir; feminine ásynja, plural ásynjur) is a member of
the principal pantheon in Norse religion. This pantheon includes Odin, Frigg, Thor, Baldr
and Týr.[1]
The ansuz rune, ᚫ, was named after the Æsir, which is a plural for ǫǫss (or áss, ás). Symbolized by
the dual ligature Æ the plural may represent two individual (a male “A” and a female “E”) in one
body, which results in a singular couple consisting of two elements.
The *Ansuz (rune) is the principal symbol of the runic alphabet as it represents the Creator Odin
and human Creature æ (“I”) simultaneously. The “Æ” rune "ash" named Æsc represents the letter
“Æ” and the “A”-rune represents "god" or the highest god “Odin”.
In this symbolism the Germanic tradition follows the same guideline which is identifiable in the
correlation between the Provencal's sky-god Diéu and the corresponding personal pronoun iéu.
Unlike the Old English word god (and Old Norse goð), the term ōs (áss) was never adopted into
Christian use.23

Proto-Germanic Old English Old Norse

Name *Ansuz Ōs Āc Æsc Óss
"god" "god" "oak" "ash" "god"
Elder Futhark Futhorc Younger Futhark
Shape

Unicode ᚨ ᚩ ᚪ ᚫ ᚬ ᚭ
Transliteration a o a æ o
Transcription a o a æ ą, o
Position in row 4 4 25 26 4
Table 8 The split of the Elder Futhark “a”- rune into three independent runes
(from Wikipedia's *Ansuz (rune)

23 Æsir
The Völuspá
As a prophecy of the Völva (Seeress) the Völuspá is the first and best known poem of the
Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end, related to the
audience by a völva addressing Odin.[1] It is one of the most important primary sources for
the study of Norse mythology.
The poem Völuspá is found in the Codex Regius manuscript (ca. 1270) and in Haukr
Erlendsson's Hauksbók Codex (ca. 1334), and many of its stanzas are quoted or paraphrased
in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda (composed ca. 1220, oldest extant manuscript dates from
ca. 1300).
In the creation legend of the Völuspá the Æsir (the gods) establish order in the cosmos by finding
places for the sun, the moon and the stars, thereby starting the cycle of day and night.
In the Wikisource of the Völuspá poem we may identify the joined matrimonial couple Ask and
Emblu which – in analogy to Adam and Eve – also composed the dual core “AE” in the name
“AEsir” for the gods.
Compared to Chilperic's letters (c. 539 – 584) the documentation of the Völuspá (ca. 1270) is
relatively new.
The ligature “Æ” in Æsir may symbolize the matrimonial link between both partners A and E. In
the old-time religion the individuals A and E were considered as halved Man, which may be
understood in reading Plato's Symposium. The ligature “Æ” may be identified as an androgynous
couple named Man.

Stanzas from the Wikisource of the Völuspá poem

From the Völuspá I decided to illustrate the relevant quotations of the names Aesir, Ask (“A”),
Emblu and Ash (representing the tree), in which the name “Emblu” simply seems to represent the
element “E” in “Æ” for “Aesir”. The initial characters “E” in “Emblu” and “Eve” suggest that the
creation legend may have been copied, but the evidence of the earliest sources is unsecure.
The relevant stanzas from the Völuspá are:
17. To three there came
from the land
this high and mighty
Aesir to the house,
found they on land,
less mighty,
Ask and Emblu
void of destiny.

19. Ash I know standing,

named Yggdrasill,
a lofty tree, laved
with limpid water:
thence comes dew
that in dales fell;
stands always over
the green Urd’s well.
 20. Thence comes maidens,
much knowing,
three, from the hall
under tree stands;
Urd hight the first,
the second Verdandi,
they ash-tablets graved,
Skuld hight the third;
they laws made,
they life selected;
all the children
they destiny say. 24

24 Völuspá
The rune Ψ (M = “Madr”, “Man”) in the Younger Futhark

3 The (Younger) Futhark alphabet in the Runen-Sprach-Schatz (1844) by Udo Waldemar Dieterich

In the Younger Futhark the rune ᛘ represents “M” and is defined as the symbol for “Man” (“Madr”
→ “Man”). The runic shape ᛘ is equivalent to the character Ψ in Chilperic I's proposal for the “æ”
in the extension (ΔΘZΨ or ᚹΘZΨ) of the Latin alphabet.
The most accurate definition of the 4 characters in Chilperic I's proposal is problematic. Therefore I
prefer to copy a primary source of this source in full length (in German):

4: Footnote at page 72 in “Die Runenschrift;(1887)by the author Wimmer, Ludvig Frands Adalbert

• For the uui-representation Chilperic obviously chose a genuine ᚹ (Wynn rune) or a Δ-shape.
• For the æ-representation Chilperic did choose a Greek psi (Ψ) or a runic Ψ-shape.
• For the the-representation Chilperic obviously chose a Greek Zeta (or Latin) Z-shape.
• For the ω-representation Chilperic obviously chose a dotted O- or Θ shape.
Comparison of the Younger to the Elder Futhark
Usage of the Younger Futhark is found in Scandinavia and Viking Age settlements abroad, probably
in use from the 9th century onward, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries.
While the Migration Period Elder Futhark had been an actual "secret" known to only a literate elite,
with only some 350 surviving inscriptions, literacy in the Younger Futhark became widespread in
Scandinavia.
Originally the runic Ψ-shape (in the Younger Futhark representing “M”=”Man”) may have been
related to the ᛉ (z) in the Elder Futhark which later turned into the Stup-madr ᛦ (→ “reversed”
“Man”).
For his additional letters king Chilperic may have chosen two runic symbols and two Greek letters:
• the genuine ᚹ (Wynn rune) for the uui-representation
• the Ψ-shaped rune for the æ-representation. Chilperic may have dedicated the runic Ψ-shape
to the æ-representation as a symbol for “M” (“Man”) in the sense of the creation legend with
Ask and Emblu.
• The Greek Zeta (or Latin) in the Z-form to represent the Thorn ᚦ. This may have influenced
or been influenced by the Alemannic name Ziu (Old High German) for Tyr.
• A Greek ω- or Ω-representation as a dotted O- or Θ-shape to represent the long O: Ω.
Chilperic probably had to be careful to avoid suspicion in the the transfer of runic symbolism into
the Latin alphabet. The Church may have shared the political power for the Merovingian courts and
any pagan influence had to be hidden by careful strategies.
As a rune æ represented the first Man in the sense of the primordial “Adam & Eve”. This could be
transferred to the Latin alphabet.

Elder ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛟ ᛞ
Futhark f u þ a r k g w h n i j æ p z s t b e m l ŋ o d
ᚢ
ᚠ u/w ᚦ ᚬ ᚴ ᛁ ᛅ ᛏ ᛒ
Younger ᚱ ᚼ ᚾ ᛦ ᛋ ᛘ ᛚ
f/ , þ, ą, o, k, — — i, a, — — t, b, — — — —
Futhark r h n ʀ s m l
v y, ð æ g e æ, e d p
o, ø
Table 9 Elder Futhark and Younger Futhark (from Wikipedia's Younger Futhark)
Graphical overview of the links between alphabets
The symbolic links between the Futhark alphabets, Chilperic's letters, the Old-English and Danish
alphabets are found in the following set of 4 tables.
The Elder Futhark starts with four symbols ᚠᚢᚦᚫ (“Futha”) and some extra letters for the symbols
w, æ and o, which in the Younger Futhark alphabet are to be compacted inside the first four runes.
These first four symbols may have been considered as fundamental runes for the Merovingian king
Chilperic I, who decided to introduce these symbols to the standard Latin alphabet of his time.
Other variants of the Latin alphabets such as the Old-English and Danish-Norse alphabets may also
reveal traces of these fundamental symbols (such as in English Ƿ Þ Ð Æ and in Danish Æ and Ø ).

ᚠᚢÞ ᚫ ᚱ ᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛟ ᛞ
f u þ a r k g w h n i j æp z s t b e ml ŋ o d
ᚢ ᚬ ᛅ
ᚠ u/ ᚦ ą, ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁi, a, ᛦ ᛋ ᛏt, ᛒ —ᛘ ᛚ ———
f/ w, þ,
o, r
k,
æ,
b,
y, h n ʀ s m l
v o, ð g e d p
æ e
ø

Table 10: Elder Futhark and Younger Futhark (from Wikipedia's Younger Futhark)

ᚹ Θ Z Ψ
uui ω the ae
Table 11 Additional letters of king Chilperic I (c. 539 – 584)

J U W (& ⁊)
A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P Q R S T V X Y Z Ƿ Þ Ð Æ

Table 12 Old English Latin alphabet

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Æ Ø Å
Table 13 The Danish-Norse alphabet

Graphical overview of the links between alphabets

Conclusion
The Futhark alphabet seems to consist of the first three characters ᚠᚢᚦ (“Futh”) to be followed by a
fourth character ᚨ (“A”) which represents the initial character for the “alphabetical” (“A.C...I....Ω”)-
section.
There are plenty of reasons to define the ligature Æ as a locally defined sacred core of the Germanic
alphabet. On a local scale the word Æ still is being used as a symbol for eternity, law, matrimony
and the personal pronoun of the 1st person singular.
Although the ligature Æ has been introduced later the symbolism may have been represented earlier
by a simple character ᚨ (“A”), which unified the fundamentals for eternity, law, matrimony, the
personal pronoun and the creation legend.
Eventually the shape of the ligature Æ may be understood as the concentrated symbolism of the
creation legend for Ask & Embla in a singular letter Æ.
One of the most interesting traces for this symbolism may be delivered by the 4 additional letters of
kings Chilperic I, which includes Æ as an equivalent symbol for the first “Man”25.
As a rune æ represented the first Man in the sense of the primordial “Adam & Eve”. This could be
transferred to the Latin alphabet. The letter æ may still be found in the Danish, Norse, Icelandic and
Faroese alphabets and languages26.
Additionally to the suitable rune for the fundamental symbol æ Chilperic may have tried to add the
rest of the header ᚠᚢᚦ (“Futh”) to the Latin alphabet.
For his additional letters king Chilperic may have chosen two runic symbols and two Greek letters:
• the genuine ᚹ (Wynn rune) for the uui-representation
• the Ψ-shaped rune for the æ-representation. Chilperic may have dedicated the runic Ψ-shape
to the æ-representation as a symbol for “M” (“Man”) in the sense of the creation legend with
Ask and Emblu.
• The Greek Zeta (or Latin) in the Z-form to represent the Thorn ᚦ. This may have influenced
or been influenced by the Alemannic name Ziu (Old High German) for Tyr.
• A Greek ω- or Ω-representation as a dotted O- or Θ-shape to represent the long O: Ω.
In the creation legend of the Völuspá the Æsir (the gods) created Ask and Emblu, who (accidentally
or on purpose) share the same initial letters A and E as Adam and Eve.

25 The Role of the Ligature Æ in the European Creation Legend

26 The symbol æ is found in Danish, Norse, Icelandic and Faroese alphabets.. (Source: Het alfabet - Talennet Deens)
Contents
Abstract.................................................................................................................................................2
Historical Context.................................................................................................................................3
The introduction of the letter Æ.......................................................................................................3
The Old English Latin alphabet.......................................................................................................3
U..................................................................................................................................................3
V..................................................................................................................................................3
W.................................................................................................................................................4
Y .................................................................................................................................................4
Z..................................................................................................................................................4
The arrangement of the extra English symbols...............................................................................4
The region “Frisia”......................................................................................................................6
The letters of the Merovingian king Chilperic I (c. 539 – 584) .................................................6
The Ligature Æ.....................................................................................................................................7
The core ”æ” for Eternity.................................................................................................................7
Chilperic's additional letters.................................................................................................................8
Runes interpreted as “Wodan” ........................................................................................................8
Runes interpreted as “vitha” by the West Slavs...............................................................................8
The identification of the “vitha” (ᚠᚢᚦᚫ)-runes in the alphabet.............................................................9
The origin of the „IJ“-ligature in the Dutch alphabet.................................................................9
The role of the trailing letters (WIJZÆ) in modern alphabets.......................................................11
The ligature W ..............................................................................................................................12
The Dutch IJ-ligature....................................................................................................................12
The long vowel ꟾ in Latin..........................................................................................................12
The long vowel in Latin.......................................................................................................13
The letter Z.....................................................................................................................................13
The *Ansuz (rune)..............................................................................................................................14
Plurality (or duality?).....................................................................................................................14
The Völuspá........................................................................................................................................15
Stanzas from the Wikisource of the Völuspá poem.......................................................................15
The rune Ψ (M = “Madr”, “Man”) in the Younger Futhark..............................................................17
Comparison of the Younger to the Elder Futhark..........................................................................18
Graphical overview of the links between alphabets...........................................................................19
Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................20
Appendix – Overview of the published papers of Joannes Richter at Academia.edu........................22
Appendix – Overview of the published papers of Joannes Richter at Academia.edu
• King Chilperic I's letters (ᚹΘZΨ or ΔΘZΨ) may be found at the beginning (ᚠᚢᚦᚫ, “Futha”) of
the runic alphabet and at the end (WIJZÆ) of the Danish alphabet
• Aan het slot (WIJZAE) van het Deense alfabet en aan het begin ("Futha") van het
runenalfabet bevinden zich de letters (ΔΘZΨ) van koning Chilperik I
• The Role of the Ligature AE in the European Creation Legend
• A Concept for a Runic Dictionary
• Concentrating the Runes in the Runic Alphabets
• Traces of Vit, Rod and Chrodo
• De sleutelwoorden van het Futhark alfabet
• The Keywords of the Futhark Alphabet
• Het runenboek met het unieke woord Tiw
• A short Essay about the Evolution of European Personal Pronouns
• The Evolution of the European Personal Pronouns
• De miraculeuze transformatie van de Europese samenleving
• The Miraculous Transformation of European Civilization
• The Duality in Greek and Germanic Philosophy
• Bericht van de altaarschellist over de Lof der Zotheid
• De bronnen van Brabant (de Helleputten aan de Brabantse breuklijnen)
• De fundamenten van de samenleving
• De rol van de waterbronnen bij de kerstening van Nederland
• De etymologie van "wijst" en "wijstgrond"
• The Antipodes Miᚦ and Wiᚦ
• The Role of the Dual Form in the Evolution of European Languages
• De rol van de dualis in de ontwikkeling der Europese talen
• The Search for Traces of a Dual Form in Quebec French
• Synthese van de Germanistische & Griekse mythologie en etymologie
• De restanten van de dualis in het Nederlands, Engels en Duits
• Notes to the Corner Wedge in the Ugaritic Alphabet
• The Origin of the long IJ-symbol in the Dutch alphabet
• Over de oorsprong van de „lange IJ“ in het Nederlandse alfabet
• The Backbones of the Alphabets
• The Alphabet and and the Symbolic Structure of Europe
• The Unseen Words in the Runic Alphabet
• De ongelezen woorden in het runenalfabet
• The Role of the Vowels in Personal Pronouns of the 1st Person Singular
• Over de volgorde van de klinkers in woorden en in godennamen
• The Creation Legends of Hesiod and Ovid
• De taal van Adam en Eva (published: ca. 2.2.2019)
• King Chilperic's 4 Letters and the Alphabet's Adaptation
• De 4 letters van koning Chilperik I en de aanpassing van het Frankenalfabet
• The Symbolism of Hair Braids and Bonnets in Magical Powers
• The Antipodes in PIE-Languages
• In het Nederlands, Duits en Engels is de dualis nog lang niet uitgestorven
• In English, Dutch and German the dual form is still alive
• The Descendants of the Dual Form " Wit "
• A Structured Etymology for Germanic, Slavic and Romance Languages
• The “Rod”-Core in Slavic Etymology (published: ca. 27.11.2018)
• Encoding and decoding the runic alphabet
• Über die Evolution der Sprachen
• Over het ontwerpen van talen
• The Art of Designing Languages
• Notes to the usage of the Spanish words Nos and Vos, Nosotros and Vosotros
• Notes to the Dual Form and the Nous-Concept in the Inari Sami language
• Over het filosofische Nous-concept
• Notes to the Philosophical Nous-Concept
• The Common Root for European Religions (published: ca. 27.10.2018)
• A Scenario for the Medieval Christianization of a Pagan Culture
• Een scenario voor de middeleeuwse kerstening van een heidens volk
• The Role of the Slavic gods Rod and Vid in the Futhorc-alphabet
• The Unification of Medieval Europe
• The Divergence of Germanic Religions
• De correlatie tussen de dualis, Vut, Svantevit en de Sint-Vituskerken
• The Correlation between Dual Forms, Vut, Svantevit and the Saint Vitus Churches
• Die Rekonstruktion der Lage des Drususkanals (published: ca. 27.9.2018)
• Die Entzifferung der Symbolik einer Runenreihe
• Deciphering the Symbolism in Runic Alphabets
• The Sky-God, Adam and the Personal Pronouns
• Notities rond het boek Tiw (Published ca. 6.2.2018)
• Notes to the book TIW
• Von den Völkern, die nach dem Futhark benannt worden sind
• Designing an Alphabet for the Runes
• Die Wörter innerhalb der „Futhark“-Reihe
• The hidden Symbolism of European Alphabets
• Etymology, Religions and Myths
• The Symbolism of the Yampoos and Wampoos in Poe's “Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym
from Nantucket”
• Notizen zu " Über den Dualis " und " Gesammelte sprachwissenschaftliche Schriften "
• Ϝut - Het Nederlandse sleutelwoord
• Concepts for the Dual Forms
• The etymology of the Greek dual form νώ (νῶϊ)
• Proceedings in the Ego-pronouns' Etymology
• Notities bij „De godsdiensten der volken“
• The Role of *Teiwaz and *Dyeus in Filosofy
• A Linguistic Control of Egotism
• The Design of the Futhark Alphabet
• An Architecture for the Runic Alphabets
• The Celtic Hair Bonnets (Published Jun 24, 2018)
• Die keltische Haarhauben
• De sculpturen van de Walterich-kapel te Murrhardt
• The rediscovery of a lost symbolism
• Het herontdekken van een vergeten symbolisme
• De god met de twee gezichten
• The 3-faced sculpture at Michael's Church in Forchtenberg
• Over de woorden en namen, die eeuwenlang bewaard gebleven zijn
• De zeven Planeten in zeven Brabantse plaatsnamen
• Analysis of the Futhorc-Header
• The Gods in the Days of the Week and inside the Futhor-alphabet
• Een reconstructie van de Nederlandse scheppingslegende
• The Symbolism in Roman Numerals
• The Keywords in the Alphabets Notes to the Futharc's Symbolism
• The Mechanisms for Depositing Loess in the Netherlands
• Over het ontstaan van de Halserug, de Heelwegen en Heilwegen in de windschaduw van de
Veluwe
• Investigations of the Rue d'Enfer-Markers in France
• Die Entwicklung des französischen Hellwegs ( " Rue d'Enfer "
• De oorsprong van de Heelwegen op de Halserug, bij Dinxperlo en Beltrum
• The Reconstruction of the Gothic Alphabet's Design
• Von der Entstehungsphase eines Hellwegs in Dinxperlo-Bocholt
• Over de etymologie van de Hel-namen (Heelweg, Hellweg, Helle..) in Nederland
• Recapitulatie van de projecten Ego-Pronomina, Futhark en Hellweg
• Over het ontstaan en de ondergang van het Futhark-alfabet
• Die Etymologie der Wörter Hellweg, Heelweg, Rue d'Enfer, Rue de l'Enfer und Santerre
• The Etymology of the Words Hellweg, Rue d'Enfer and Santerre
• The Decoding of the Kylver Stone' Runes
• The Digamma-Joker of the Futhark
• The Kernel of the Futhorc Languages
• De kern van de Futhark-talen
• Der Kern der Futhark-Sprachen
• De symboolkern IE van het Nederlands
• Notes to Guy Deutscher's "Through the Language Glass"
• Another Sight on the Unfolding of Language (Published 1 maart, 2018)
• Notes to the Finnish linguistic symbolism of the sky-god's name and the days of the week
• A modified Swadesh List (Published 12 / 17 / 2017)
• A Paradise Made of Words
• The Sky-God Names and the Correlating Personal Pronouns
• The Nuclear Pillars of Symbolism (Published 10 / 28 / 2017)
• The Role of the Dual Form in Symbolism and Linguistics (Oct 17, 2017)
• The Correlation between the Central European Loess Belt, the Hellweg-Markers and the
Main Isoglosses
• The Central Symbolic Core of Provencal Language (Oct 7, 2017)