Runes and the Origins of Writing

by Alain de Benoist

  Caesar said about the Gauls the following: “They do not count days, but nights; birthdays, the beginnings of months and years are counted by making the day start with the night” (De bello gallico, VI, 18). According to Pliny the Elder, Gallic months started on the sixth day of the moon (Natural Historye, XVI, 250). The starting point of the year was the samionos full moon. In Old Irish, there are two words for “week,” sehtuin (sechtmain) is a recent word translating the Latin septimana, and nouas (*nevm-etā) which means “nine nights” is an older one, which confirms the existence of a nine-night measurement unit for time before the week. In Welsh, another word for week is wythnos “eight nights.” In Breton, the word for morrow is antronoz. The habit of counting with nights and not days is also confirmed for ancient Greeks, especially in Athens. The expression “night and day” is more frequent than “day and night” in Homer’s work.

  The famous lunisolar Coligny calendar, found in 189 near Bourg (AIN) on a territory formerly occupied by the Gallic Ambarri also confirms the importance of the Moon for the Celts. Dating from the 1st or 2nd century, this large slab of bronze -of which subsists 153 fragments- indicates the succession of days and months on a five-year timespan (so around 1835 days). All the words on it are written in Gaulish. The calendar is made up of thirty-day months (MAT, matu) that are considered to be positive, and twenty-nine-day months (ANMATV, anmatu) that are considered to be negative. Leap months are used to standardize the lunar calendar and the solar cycle. Every month is divided into a first period of fifteen days and a second period of fourteen or fifteen days. That division is often marked by the word ATENOVX (*atenocts) “ascending night,” “return of the moon” or “darkness once again” (See athnughudh which means “resurgence” in Middle Irish). There is also the TRINUX or TRINOX distinction, meaning “three nights” (trinoxtion Samoni sindiu “celebration of the three nights of Samonios today”).214

  The ancient ten month and thirty-eight-week Roman calendar called “Romulus’s calendar” (as opposed to Numa’s reformed calendar), which made the year start in March, is affected by the lunar cycle, as the division of months into calends, nones (“nine day timespans”) and ides show. The calends, which designate the first day of the month, corresponded to the new moon. The ides corresponded to the full moon. “None” designated the ninth day before the ides. In Rome, the nundines (nundinæ) were market days that took place every eight days in the calendar, thereby separating weeks (the interval between nundines was called nundinum). Some special ceremonies took place during calends, nones and ides, and all three of those “were linked to the phases of the moon and derived from a very ancient time when people used a lunar calendar.”215 The ides were devoted to Jupiter. Weeks were eight days long, but they likely used to be nine nights long. The tradition gives the credit for the introduction of the eight days long week to the Etruscans. Nundinæ and nonæ, which have the same etymology, probably originally had the same meaning before the nones became the ninth day before the ides. Macrobius (I, 16, 36) mentioned a divinity called Nundina, which presided over the day when babies are named, the ninth after a boy’s birth and the eighth after a girl’s birth. One can find that Germanic people also had a rite to recognize a child and giving it a name on its ninth day, especially in Lex Salica and Lex Ribuaria (“infra novem noctibus”), as well as the Visigoths and the Alamanni.

  The oldest Greek calendar was also a lunar calendar that divided the year in two. Every month was divided in three phases corresponding to the ascending moon, the full moon, and descending moon. A leap month was periodically added.

  So, there is no doubt that the lunar cycle was the first to have been used to measure time, and that it was the observation of the phases of the moon that made it possible. The first day of the week is incidentally always Monday (Montag in German, dilun in Breton, etc.), meaning the “day of the moon.” In many Indo-European languages, the name of the moon also means “splitter” or “time measuring,” the Indo-European root of its name being *meH1 “to measure” (see mā- in Old Indian, mā- in Avestan, ētīrī in Latin “to measure,” métron in Greek “measurement,” messen in German “to measure”), which shows that “measurements” originally applied especially to measuring time. As a Zeitmesser or Zeitteiler, the moon splits time and partitions the year (see metai “year” in Lithuanian). It is even echoed in the Bible, where it reads that Yahweh “made the moon to mark the seasons” (Psalms 104, 19). In the Poetic Edda, “Alvíss’s tale” (Alvíssmál) specifies that the moon is called máni by men and mýlinn by gods, and that “elves” (álfar) call it year-counter” (ártali, str. 14). Jean Haundry writes:

  From the reflection on the monthly cycle begot a rich lunar mythology that shouldn’t be rejected, even if it has sometimes been used inconsistently […] the Moon god is probably the oldest warrior god of the Indo-Europeans […] the Moon is de facto the only major celestial body that doesn’t fear venturing into the nocturnal sky, realm of demons and spirits of the dead. Moreover, before being able to calculate the lunisolar year, Indo-Europeans, like many other peoples, used the lunar year. So, the monthly cycle and the moon god are closely linked since the origin of the annual cycle.216

  22

  Eight and Nine

  Maurice Cahen said that “the partition [of the Fuþark] into three groups seems to be the result of magical preoccupations,” especially since “the number ‘eight’ has a special place in runic magic.”217 Ralph W. V. Elliot believes it is likely that “the numbers three and eight played a part in the magical usage of the runes.”218 The number nine must be added to those two numbers, which is a superlative amplification of the number three (3 x 3). Indeed, everywhere they are found, the number eight and nine seem to have a connection with the phases of the moon and with the night.

  Examining the vocabulary brings about a curious assessment right away. In most Indo-European languages, except Slavic languages, the number eight and the term for “night” (from Indo-European *nokwt-s “night”) are related, the word for night being an equivalent of eight with an “n”-prefix.

  French: huit / nuit

  Old French: oit — uit / noit — nuit

  Old High German: ahtō / naht

  Middle High German: ahte / nacht

  Gothic: ahtau / nahts

  German: acht / Nacht

  English: eight / night

  Dutch: acht / nacht

  Swedish: åtta (ōtta) / natt

  Norwegian: åtte / natt

  Danish: otte / nat

  Old English: eahta — æhta / niht — nieht

  Latin: octo / nox, nocto

  Italian: otto / notte

  Spanish: ocho / noche

  Portuguese: oito / noite

  Catalan: vuit / nit

  Occitan: uèch / nuèch

  Romanian: opt / noapte

  Breton: eizh / noz

  Furthermore, in almost all Indo-European languages, the number nine is a homonym or the quasi-homonym of the adjective “new.”

  French: neuf / neuf

  German: neun / neu

  Dutch: negen / nieuw

  Norwegian: ni / ny

  Danish: ni / ny

  English: nine / new

  Latin: novem / novus

  Italian: nove / nuovo

  Spanish: nueve / nuevo

  Portuguese: nove / novo

  Catalan: nou / nou

  Romanian: noua / nou

  Breton: naw or nav / nevez

  How should those two series be interpreted, knowing that they seem to be too systematic to be a coincidence? What is the link between eight and “night?” And what novelty corresponds to a pace of nine? “Nine” here can not be interpreted as a symbol of human gestation, since people only knew lunar months and a pregnancy lasts ten lunar months (280 days according to the lunar calendar) or nine solar months. The only conceivable answer is that nine marks the transition from one phase of the moon to another: nine happens at the end of a set of eight nights. However, it should b
e noted that according to Václav Blažek, the Indo-European numeral eight has the form *H2oktoH1(u) and it means “the two tips” (fingers without the two thumbs). The same author states that *H1newm̥ *H1en-H1newm apply to nine and mean “lacking” (it lacks one compared to ten). The initial laryngeal then supposedly diverted from the *néwo- “new” group.219

  Moreover, the figure nine is especially important in the Germanic religion. Earlier in this book, we’ve talked about how Óðínn hangs for “nine nights” from Yggdrasill and how the giant Bölthorn then teaches him nine “mighty songs” (Hávamál, str. 138–140). In the Grímnismál, after having taken the appearance of Grímnir, he consents to being detained for eight days and eight nights by the king Geirrödr, and then he kills him on the ninth night after having revealed his true identity. He owns a golden ring called Draupnir (literally the “drier”), which significantly multiplies itself eight times every nine nights (Skírnismál, str. 21) — a clear allusion to the succession of the phases of the moon. Óðinn is also mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon poem Nine Herbs Charm where, armed with nine wands that probably bear runes, he prevails over a snake and cuts it into nine pieces.220

  Nordic cosmology comprises nine worlds propped up by the cosmic tree Yggdrasill, whose roots dig deep to into the Earth. In the Skírnismál (str. 39–41), Freyr must wait nine nights before he can consummate his union with Gerðr. In the Svipdagsmál, the witch Gróa gives nine charms to her son Svipdag. In the same poem, nine servants sit with Menglöð. The god Hermódr rode Sleipnir for nine nights in order to save Baldr from Hel, the underworld (Gylfaginning, Chapter 49). The god Njördr and his wife Skadi, who quarrelled over where they would live, decided in the end to spend nine nights in at Þrymheimr and nine nights at Nóatún (Gylfaginning, Chapter 23).221 Heimdallr was supposedly conceived by nine virgin sisters (Gylfaginning, Chapter 27). The Skáldskaparmál (Chapter 2) also mention that Óðinn made nine of Baugi’s serfs kill each other. In the Edda, there’s also mention of the nine daughters of giants (Hyndluljód, str. 35), the nine heads of Þrivaldi, the nine daughters of Ægir, etc.

  We know from Adam of Bremen, who wrote from around 1080, that the largest ceremonies at the pagan temple of Uppsala took place every nine years (post novem annos), that they were in honor of Óðinn, Þórr and Freyr, and that they lasted nine days.222 Traditional songs (neniae) were executed. René L. M. Derolez highlights on that topic that

  Ljungberg observed carefully the reactions of Swedish paganism against Christians. He noticed that the manifestations of animosity occured approximately every nine years (or in multiples of nine: around 1021, 1039, 1057, 1066, 1075, 1084, 1120), put another way, they very likely coincided with the celebrations that took place in Uppsala every nine years.223

  Were those nine years originally lunar years? In any case, a homology between the nine-day lunar cycle and periods corresponding to nine lunar months or nine lunar years is probable.

  Among the Celts, the king Lóegaire surrounds himself with nine chariots “in accordance with the gods’ tradition.” Ysbaddaden Bencawr’s castle has nine gates, nine gatekeepers and nine watchdogs. King Arthur fights in vain the Twrch Trwyth during nine nights and nine days. According to the Vita Merlini, nine sisters stay up in the isle of fruit, the equivalent of Avalon, and the main one is Morgan. There are also nine plains and nine rivers created by the Dagda, nine sisters attacking Samson on his journey in Wales, nine witches between Peredur and Caer Loyw, etc.

  In Greece, Demeter travels the world for nine days looking for her daughter Persephone, abducted by Hephaestus. Leto, the embodiment of the Night, suffers during nine days and nine nights from giving birth. The nine Muses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (whose names are Clio, Calliope, Melpomene, Thalia, Euterpe, Erato, Terpsichore, Polyhymnia and Urania) are born after nine nights of love-making. Tradition dictates that it took Minos nine years in his cave to receive Jupiter’s laws. Another legend states that Minos had a meeting with Jupiter every nine years, after which he could prophesy. Every nine years, Athens sent to Crete seven young men and seven young girls to sacrifice to the Minotaur. In Homer’s work, Ulysses attributes nine goats to the crew manning his twelve ships. In Pylos, every group of 500 men, sitting on nine benches, offered nine steers to Poseidon, etc.

  23

  The Norns, the Parcae and the Moirai

  The poem known as Völuspá (the “clairvoyant’s prediction”) is one of the most beautiful sacred poems of medieval pagan literature. In it, the völva or clairvoyant (the female substantive spá originally refers to a vision, see speculum in Latin) vaticinates on the great events of the history of the universe. This sixty-six-verse poem has been recorded around the middle of the 13th century in the Codex Regius (which is written in Old Norse and only contains sixty-two verses), and the Hauksbók (sixty-six verses). Around 1230, Snorri Sturluson used many excerpts of it in the Gylfaginning. The original text seems to have been written at the end of the 10th century by an anonymous poet based on much more ancient sources. In the sixth verse, the völva proclaims:

  So all the gods rose up

  To sit on the judgment seats,

  Supreme divinities,

  And they conferred;

  Gave names to

  The night and the descending moon,

  They named the morning

  And the middle of the day,

  The fresh and brown

  And counted time in years.224

  This text shows how important the “night” and the “descending moon” are to the Æsir gods, who gave them names, and also how important it is to “count time in years” to them. So, it confirms the role the lunar cycle had in measuring time. But the Völuspá also mentions the three Norns, who are considered to be “virgins learned in many things” and who dwell under Yggdrasill’s foliage, the cosmic tree which remains “eternally green”:

  One is named Urdr,

  The other, Verdandi,

  — chopped logs —,

  Skuld, the third one;

  They created the laws,

  They established the lives

  of the children of men

  and the mortals’ fate.225

  The name Urd means “what once was” (the past), Verdandi means “what is, what it becomes” (the present), and Skuld means “what will be” (the future). The three Norns (norn, plural nornir) are akin to the Dísir, who regulate the fate of the dwellers of the nine worlds of Nordic cosmogony. They are the “spinners” crafting the thread of men’s fate.226 The text says that they “chopped logs” (scáro á scíði). “Maybe it is an allusion to the art of engraving runes,” comments Régis Boyer.227 It should then be translated: “They engraved in wood.”

  As divinities of fate, the three Norns are the Germanic equivalent to the Greek Moirai and the Roman Parcae. In the Greek religion, the Moirai are daughters of Zeus and Hera and live in a place next to where the Horae live. In Hesiod’s Theogony (v. 215), they are significantly introduced as the daughters of the Night, which confirms that they correspond to the three phases of the moon. Incidentally, the word moira means “phase.” Clotho, the “spinner” is linked to the new moon and the spring, Lachesis, the “alloter” (her name means “fate” or “action of drawing randomly”) is linked to the full moon and the summer, Atropos, the “inevitable” is linked to the descending moon and the winter.” The Romans called Clotho Nona, “the ninth,” another hint for a link between the number nine and the “novelty” represented by the new moon. The “triple moon” (ascending, full and descending) might also correspond to the “triple Hékatè” or Tyndareus’s three daughters: Helen, Phoebe and Clytmnestra (see also the three oracular priestesses in the Zeus sanctuary in Dodona). All of this clearly shows the connection between divination or foretelling, which required runes, and the phases of the moon which correspond to three series of eight nights.

  24

  The Homology Between Day and Year

  Jean Haudry suggested bringing together under the expression “cosmic
religion of the Indo-Europeans” a “coherent group of representations coming from a reflection on the three main temporal cycles: the daily cycle of the day, night, dawn and twilight, the yearly cycle and the cosmic cycle, both built after the model set by the daily cycle.”228 Going back to the Mesolithic, if not the Paleolithic, when the life of men depended heavily on the cycle of seasons, this ancient cosmology comprised both a “diurnal sky” and a “nocturnal sky.” Those two skies were separates by a “red sky,” which is either a dawn sky and a crepuscular sky. The mythology and the divinities associated with those three skies primarily express the desire to go back to the sunnier season, which is considered to be the dawn of the year.

  This approach sheds light on a more archaic stage of the Indo-European religion than the stage with the ideology of the three functions, while helping us to understand how it got to that stage. By giving a central importance to some cosmic entities, first and foremost the Ausōs (Eōs in Greek, Uṣas in Indo-Aryan, aurōra in Latin, Austrō in Old German), it explains the origin of the tripartite ideology by making the sovereign gods of the Indo-Europeans out to be representatives of the “diurnal sky” instead of “radiant” gods or simply “celestial gods,”229 in opposition to the “nocturnal sky” which has its own divinities (*Tīwa- for the Germanic, *Mitra- for Vedic India). It also leads us towards analyzing the Indo-European concept of “year” as a “dual bank” entity, directly linked to the “heroic” theme of the “crossing of the dark wintery waters.”