De äldre runorna på Rökstenen

A short section of the runic inscription on the Rök stone (Ög 136) is written mainly in runes from the older, 24-type futhark. This use has for a long time been considered a form of cryptography, one of several in the inscription. The older runes are used to represent their corresponding runes from the younger, 16-type futhark, but in a reversed, “mirrored” manner; for example, whereas the younger futhark’s t rune is used for [t] and [d], the ᴅ rune has that same function in this part of the Rök inscription. There are in addition two unique runes in the section, corresponding to a and i respectively, which are prob­ably variants of the old jāra - and ihwaʀ -runes, both of which adhere to the acrophonic principle of orthography.