Runraden

Runraden, meaning "the rune row" in Swedish, is the term used for the ordered sequence of runic characters in the runic alphabets of Germanic languages. The concept is central to how runes were taught, memorized, and inscribed. In traditional runology, several distinct runic rows are recognized, corresponding to different alphabets and historical periods.

Historically, the most widely cited is the Elder Futhark, a 24-rune row used from roughly the 2nd to 8th centuries. Later, the Younger Futhark simplified the system to 16 runes during the Viking Age, and medieval runes further adapted shapes and values for Christianized scripts. The runic row also appears in the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, which extended the lineup to more runes. The exact ordering varies slightly between traditions, but the concept of a fixed row remained a tool for encoding phonology and teaching.

In Swedish contexts, the term runraden is commonly used to refer to the universal ordering of runes across these variants, as well as to specific regional recensions found in inscriptions and manuscript glossaries. The row functioned both as a practical alphabet for writing and as a mnemonic for recalling rune meanings, names, and phonetic values.

In modern times, runraden continues to be studied by scholars of runology and appears in neo-pagan and literary contexts as a cultural symbol. It informs analyses of inscriptions, linguistic change, and the transmission of runic writing traditions.