# Icelandic: 'Jake' in Runic letters?



## ShakeyX

Seing as my name was definitely never used in Runic (Jake) plus the fact that I guess the letter J or its equivalent would be like english Y. How would I render my name in Icelandic Runes? Djeik? Is there a proper way or is it just based on how it sounds and also what are the specific subset of icelandic runes called.

Thanks, Djeik


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## NorwegianNYC

Since the spelling was phonetic, it would probably start with a D or T, followed by an I and an E (which is like Eng YE in 'yellow'), and then a K. It is hard to say whether the diphthong would be spelled out or not. My guess is not, but feel free to insert another I (D I E I K)


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## KarenRei

The Icelandic language does not use runes.  And there is not a single runic alphabet.  Wikipedia covers some of the differences:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runes

Most of the runes used in Iceland (in Old Icelandic, not modern) were the Medieval Runic alphabet

Now, if you're asking how the "J" sound is usually rendered in modern Icelandic, yes, it's "dj" (for example, "djamma" (jamm = to party), "djass" (jazz), "djók" (joke), etc).  And "ei" would be a good rendition of the "a" sound in your name.



> followed by an I and an E (which is like Eng YE in 'yellow')



Not in modern Icelandic.  That's "É".  I and E are different sounds.  I is like the i in "pig" (maybe a bit tighter), while e is like the "e" in "bed".  Both are often preaspired (aðblástur in Icelandic = terminating the voice before the vowel finishes and robbing the subsequent consonant(s) of voice), leading to them sounding sort of like they're followed with -h or even -ah.  Probably the closest English analogy one could make would be the Boston accent.



> it would probably start with a D or T,



Not T, it's not used that way in modern Icelandic.  For example, "tjörn" (pond) doesn't begin with a j-sound.  The difference in Icelandic between D and T is that T is aspirated (aspiration = fráblástur = pressure is higher, leading to a pronounced burst of air from the mouth) while D is not.  There's no voicing difference like in English where D is voiced and T is not.  The English j is unaspirated, and hence "DJ" is the appropriate spelling.  The aspirated English equivalent of "j" is "ch", hence one could analogize "tj" in Icelandic with "ch" in English (not exactly, but close enough).


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## NorwegianNYC

Hi KarenRei,

I think you misunderstand. My response was based on the hypothetical spelling of "jake" using runes. I was not going into the specifics of Icelandic vowel pronunciation. When I say "an I and an E" is like "YE in yellow" it is to prevent it from being pronounced like the cluster "ie" in English. Also, when I say "a D or a T" it is because some futharks have a D, but many of them do not, and then one will have to use T instead.

Of course - no language uses runes, so this is simply a mind-game.

Let's say we use the younger futhark: f u þ ą r k h n i a s t b m l ʀ (since the elder futhark was used for Proto-Norse, and the younger for Norse), and stick with the notion that either I (iss) or A (ar) could represent E.
The way to spell "Jake" is T I A/E (I) K - regardless of modern day sound values


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## Määränpää

I know we Finns aren't really Vikings but I would say T S E I K


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## NorwegianNYC

Määränpää said:


> I know we Finns aren't really Vikings but I would say T S E I K


That makes sense


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## sindridah

Though I don't get the question it's definitely "Djeik" ;D


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## NorwegianNYC

sindridah said:


> Though I don't get the question it's definitely "Djeik" ;D


Hey, hey, hey! That depends on which futhark you're using. The elder one - yup. The younger one - nope. Any other one - not really, but you might tweak it


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## sindridah

What do you mean which? There aren't many futhark mentioned in the question and I'll go by that.


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## NorwegianNYC

sindridah said:


> What do you mean which? There aren't many futhark mentioned in the question and I'll go by that.


Sorry, it was meant jokingly. Well, there are many futharks, and no such thing as "Icelandic runes". KarenRei suggests using Medieval runes and I suggested the Younger futhark - what we will have to agree on is that it was not the Elder futhark, since it was no longer in use by the time Iceland was discovered.


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## KarenRei

He said "Icelandic runes".  The primary runes used in Iceland were medieval.


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## Cagey

Please remember that the original question was not about modern orthography but about the hypothetical transcription of a modern name [Jake] in runes.

Thank you, 
Cagey, moderator.


ShakeyX said:


> Seing as my name was definitely never used in Runic (Jake) plus the fact that I guess the letter J or its equivalent would be like english Y. How would I render my name in Icelandic Runes? Djeik? Is there a proper way or is it just based on how it sounds and also what are the specific subset of icelandic runes called.
> 
> Thanks, Djeik


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## ShakeyX

So... just so I can try and research this before tattoo day, does anyone know the name of the subset of Runes that were used in Iceland. As I am sure they used runes but I don't think it was the Fuþark.

Kan jú djast giv mí ðat


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## ShakeyX

or is Medieval the name of the set? Apologies if so.


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## NorwegianNYC

Hi,

All runic alphabets are called 'futhark'. I agree with KarenRei that you would perhaps want to look into the Medieval futhark for this purpose, as described here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_runes


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## Lanmi

ShakeyX said:


> So... just so I can try and research this before tattoo day, does anyone know the name of the subset of Runes that were used in Iceland. As I am sure they used runes but I don't think it was the Fuþark.



It was surely Fuþark - the term comes from the first six letters in the alphabet, "F-U-Þ-A-R-K", the arrangement of which didn't change even in Anglo-Saxon runes (although there was a shift of /a/>/o/, but that's just diachronics)


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