Some Swedes used runes up till 1900

[Hong Key]

Isolated people in Sweden used runes up till 1900
By: Lise Brix , journalist
May 6, 2015

Usually we associate runic alphabet with the Vikings. But in a remote, isolated part of Sweden they used runes until just 100 years ago. People in the region also speak their own language: Elfdalian.


Älvdalen is located in the sparsely populated area in Dalarna in Sweden. Until the early 1900s used Älvdalens residents still runes. Today speaks 2,500 people from the area remains a unique language, called Elfdalian. The picture shows Österdalälven in Älvdalen. (Photo: Fotoakuten.se)

Most people associate runes with Viking times, Jelling stones or Gorm the Old.

But in Älvdalen in western Sweden are locals continued to use runes for centuries after that written language was dropped in the rest of Scandinavia.

In the shelter of the large Swedish forests were runes able to continue right up until the early 1900s, just as the residents also retained its own unique language - Elfdalian - which is considered to be a real treasure for Scandinavian linguists.

Ȁlvdalen is really something special. Firstly, because they speak a unique Old Norse language, but also because they used runes until around 100 years ago. It is simply fascinating, "says Michael Lerche Nielsen, Associate Professor at the Department of Scandinavian Research at Copenhagen University.

Thursday, he holds presentations on the special runes from Älvdalen at a conference on Elfdalian University of Copenhagen.


Runes of Älvdalen - dalrunerne - reminiscent of runes which were used in Denmark, for example, the Jelling Stone, but there are still several differences. Dalrunerne evolved over time under the influence of, among other Latin alphabet. Here are the runes, as they appeared in the period up until the 20th century. (Illustration: Tasnu Arakun / Wikimedia Commons)


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[Mazik]

I have just met on person from Älvdalen, and he spoke Elfdalian. As I speak both Swedish and Westrobotnian (bondska) I could understand the most. Bondska is also a dialect group that has survived from the old norse and is spoken in the north by some people.

[Hong Key]

I have just met on person from Älvdalen, and he spoke Elfdalian. As I speak both Swedish and Westrobotnian (bondska) I could understand the most. Bondska is also a dialect group that has survived from the old norse and is spoken in the north by some people.

Very cool. How different is Swedish from the dialects?

[Mazik]

Very cool. How different is Swedish from the dialects?

Some dialects of bondska are not very different from Swedish, while some are. The most different is the kind of bondska they talk in Överkalix. Överkalix was also the "last outpost" of the Swedish language in the north, as the Tornedalian/Finnish language area started there. So they sticked harder to their language.

The kind of bondska I'm more used to we for example use exactly like in English, "I" for "I", while in Swedish we say "Jag".

The English sentence "I don't know", would in Swedish be "Jag vet inte" and in Bondska "I veit it". People who emigrated from my area in the 50s to Canada or the US said they had a lot of help from bondska when they were learning English. "I" is just an example of similarity.

In the north, our great grandparents all spoke bondska, but it was seen as a bit of shame to speak it back then, especially in school. So people tried to get rid of the dialect. But nowadays many people want to take it back, a lot of people are working with it, you can f.ex take courses for learning it. And in some schools they have added bondska for people who don't want to study a third language (usually Spanish, French or German).

I found a video here, with all north germanic languages, including bondska from Överkalix (9:19) and Elfdalian (8:04)

[Mazik]

I also want to introduce Jamska (from Jämtland) here, as I have a lot of friends who speak it. It's also arguably an own language, like bondska and Elfdalian. Here's the national anthem of Jämtland in Jamska. The video below is the same song but in Swedish.




And in Swedish:

[Hithaeglir]

Some letters look very similar to the latin alphabet.

It's funny how the "e" resembles the greek l "λ" and the "p" the greek letter "Ψ".

They should have kept the runic alphabet,it looks really beautiful.

[FeederOfRavens]

Some letters look very similar to the latin alphabet.

Unsurprising. All runic script ultimately derives from Old Italic.

[Äijä]

How do you classify Finlandssvenska and its dialects?

It would be good if you could save these languages, they are free from the Hansa influenced corruption from Germany.