The Lozark Runes

The Lozark Runes are a select set of Elder Futhark, Anglo-Saxon, Younger Futhark, and Medieval runes tailored to represent the English language phonetically and orthographically.

Orthographic Use

Lozark Runes can be used as a simple substitute for the Latin alphabet.  With this method, words are written using traditional spelling, with a vew variations as noted below.

Where letter combinations CH, NG, SH, TH, and ZH occur, the symbols C, N, S, H or T, and Z may be used respectively.

There are four cases in which more than one rune may be used for a given letter or letter combination (A, I, TH, & U).  Choose one of the following methods:

1. Simple Orthographic Mapping:  Use A for A, I for I, H for TH, and U for U.
2. Phonetic Hybrid Approach:
   • A: Use a when the a is short, as in "at", "and", "after", "act".  Use E when a is pronounced as in "late", "favor", or "same".  Otherwise, use A.
   • I: Use i when the i is short, as in "if", "it", or "into", and with "ng", as in "sing".  Use Y when i is pronounced as in "ice", "item", or "thrive". Otherwise, use I.
   • TH: Use H when the th is unvoiced, as in "think", "thin", "three". Use T when the th is voiced, as in "the", "there", "thus".
   • U: Use o when u is pronounced as in "cut", "under", or "such".  Use u when u is prounounced as in "put" or "should".  Otherwise, use U.

Phonetic Use

With this method, words are written according to how they sound, rather than how they are traditionally spelled.

Using this method, the runes are pronounced as follows:

Note that the symbols c and k both represent the sound /k/.  c may be used in place of k in words traditionally spelled with a c.  Where "ck" appear together, use k, as in "clock": clAk, or "quick": qik.

Lozark Runes Font

You may download the font used on this page by clicking here.

This font lets you type Lozark Runes using your regular keyboard.  It also supports the unicode symbols used in the Lozark rune set.  Special key mappings are noted below:

Lozark runes may be used with either Arabic or Roman numerals.  To facilitate the use of Roman numerals, the following symbols are included in this font:

Sources and Unicode Values

All of the symbols in the Lozark Runes may be found in the Runic Unicode block.  The unicode value for each symbol is shown below, along with the source of the rune.

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