Old Germanic writing system. The common Germanic value system encapsulated in the runes

The runic alphabet is a specifically Germanic alphabet, not to be found in languages of other groups. The word rune originally meant ’secret’, ‘mystery’ and hence came to denote inscriptions believed to be magic. The runes were used in OE to represent both letters indicating a separate word and a sound. The old Germanic alphabet consisted of 24 letters. In England at least 30 runes were used to reflect the Old English phonological changes. The runic alphabet is called FUTHARK according to the sequence of first 6 letter in the alphabet. According to Martin Lehnert – german scholar, the verse form was often chosen in teaching and learning the runes to make it easier to memorize the alph in Anglo-Saxon pagan times. Runic Poem has come down to us from the 18th and it consist of short verse, each of which describes the name of each rune. The name of each rune was associated with a certain word in the Old English, plus each rune could stand for the initial sound of the corresponding word, this property of runes was used by Cynewulf to sign his poems. The origin of runes is rooted in the era older than the oldest inscriptions.Almost any runic text when decoded and subjected to a thorough linguistic analysis can provide us with knowledge of common Germanic value system. Futhark is a system encoding info about common Germanic mentality seems to be the most important runic evidence that we posses nowadays. To depict such information YuriySergeevichStepanov suggests viewing writing system on two axes simultaneously: padadigmatic (as code) and syntagmatic (as text) Linguistically, every separate runic letter can be treated as a complex sign with its own sound value, shape and semantic associations. Thus, futhark can be referred to paradigmatic analysis which helps linguists recognize several semantic spheres revealing the traditional Germanic value systems. They show the Universe in microcosm, or rather the Germanic perception of the World explicit in the runic code, consequently this means that furhark – is a Germanic model of the microcosm. The essential ideas of germanicmacrocosm were forming semantic backgrounds for grouping words into lexical fields in the old Germanic language. Names of the letters in proto-Indo-European alphabets were associated with basic notions in the mentality of the people of that era. =>runic characters could stand for some central concepts symbolizing basic notions in mentality of that era people. For example feoh = cattle-possesions-wealth-property-money-riches; the semantic history of this word indicates the gradual change in peoples attitude to the idea of well-being and prosperity. Syntagmaticaly, names of runes are arranged setting up types of word combinations = syntagms.(см.руны в тетради)