The Elder Futhark alphabet contains exactly 24 encoded characters, organized into three conventional aett groups of eight entries each, beginning with ᚠ at Unicode code point U+16A0 and ending with ᛟ at U+16DF. That count is the catalogue's working definition of "Elder Futhark" and it comes from how Unicode itself encodes the early runic forms: a set of 24 specific Elder Futhark characters drawn from the larger Runic range, each given a standard code point and a documented character name. The Rune Meanings catalogue reflects that exact structure, so when someone asks whether Elder Futhark contains 24 runes, the tool itself answers the question by structure rather than by assertion. Three groups of eight, contiguous positions inside each group, and a clear boundary between encoding facts (which are verifiable) and linguistic reconstruction (which is qualified) is what makes the 24-character list reliable as a reference lookup.
What "24 runes" actually means in the catalogue
When the catalogue says "24", it means 24 Unicode-encoded Elder Futhark forms, not 24 historical inscriptions and not 24 short prose explanations of ancient usage. The Runic Unicode block is much wider than Elder Futhark itself, because later runic families (Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, Younger Futhark, and others) also live in the same code-point range. The catalogue deliberately selects only the 24 early forms and arranges them in the conventional three aett groups, so anyone searching for "Elder Futhark" gets a bounded list rather than every runic glyph Unicode happens to encode.
That is why the catalogue begins at U+16A0 with ᚠ and ends at U+16DF with ᛟ. Within that span, every code point is used once, every character is unique, and the 24-row total matches what institutional references such as the Penn State Symbol Codes page describe for the early runic script family. The Viking Ship Museum independently states that Elder Futhark contains 24 letters, which is consistent with the catalogue's row count and with the broader academic summary of the early Germanic runic alphabet.
If you want to verify the count yourself without reading prose, the easiest check is to apply the first-aett filter and count the rows that remain. You will see exactly eight. Repeat for the second and third aett and you reach the same number. Combined, that returns the 24-row total that defines the catalogue.
Search the 24 runes by any field you remember
The catalogue is built so that you do not need to know a rune's standard name or its code point in advance to find it. You can search using any one of several normalized fields:
- The rune character itself, for example typing or pasting ᚠ or ᛟ directly.
- The Unicode code point, such as U+16A0.
- The standard Unicode name, such as "RUNIC LETTER F" or "RUNIC LETTER OTHAL".
- The transliteration, the single letter preferred by a given scholarly convention (which itself varies row by row, so the catalogue reflects that variation rather than picking one school).
- A common reconstructed name or literal name gloss, such as "fehu" or "cattle" for the first rune, or "hagalaz" or "hail" for the one near the middle of the row.
Searches run entirely against the in-memory 24-row catalogue, so matching is immediate and offline. If you cannot remember the rune, type a word from the literal gloss; if you cannot remember the gloss, type the code point you saw in a table elsewhere; if you only have a transliteration letter, type that. Any of those entry points lands you on the same row.
Filter the catalogue to a single aett group of eight
The three aett groups are exposed as filters in the interface, and selecting one keeps only the eight runes from that group in their conventional sequence. This is useful when you have a specific question such as "what is the second rune of the second aett" or "show me the eight runes whose literal glosses relate to weather" without scrolling through unrelated rows. Each filter result is exactly eight entries, which matches the structure every short reference describes for Elder Futhark and lets you cross-check positions without performing arithmetic on a longer list.
To return to the full list at any time, use the Reset catalogue control. Reset restores all 24 entries and selects the first one, so the catalogue is always restorable to its complete state with a single action. Reset is a display action only; the underlying 24-row catalogue itself is not edited by filtering or searching.
Read the fields on a chosen rune entry
Once you choose a matching rune, the catalogue exposes a fixed set of labelled fields so that no meaning depends on decorative iconography or font rendering. For every row, the labels read consistently across the 24 rows. The table below summarizes what each labelled field represents and gives an example drawn from the catalogue's own data.
| Field label | What it represents | Example from the catalogue |
|---|---|---|
| Code point | Unicode value in standard notation, unique per rune. | U+16A0 |
| Transliteration | Conventional runological letter (varies by scholarly convention, kept as entered). | First-row transliteration for ᚠ |
| Aett | Which of the three groups the rune belongs to. | First, second, or third |
| Position | Sequential number within the chosen eight-rune group. | 1–8 |
| Literal gloss | Historical-language reference label (reconstructed for many rows). | cattle, gift, hail, ice, sun, horse, water, day, inheritance, household |
| Unicode name | Standard encoding name assigned by the Unicode NamesList. | RUNIC LETTER F |
| Uncertainty | Row-specific note flagging where scholarly convention disagrees. | Disputed name, sound, or meaning |
This seven-field layout is the same for every row, which means that once you have read one rune in detail, you can read any of the other 23 using the same mental model. The interface reflows into a single column on narrow screens, and if your system font cannot draw a particular Runic character, the code point and uppercase Unicode name remain readable because they are text, not glyphs.
Why some rows show uncertainty markers
Not all 24 rows have a single agreed literal gloss, and the catalogue records that disagreement rather than smoothing it over. A few examples illustrate how this works in practice:
- Pertho has no broadly agreed literal gloss, so the catalogue marks it accordingly.
- Algiz has a disputed name, sound history, and meaning, and any elk comparison is qualified rather than presented as fact.
- Kauna or Kenaz is shown with the qualified boil or ulcer gloss used by a specific independent reference table.
- Eihwaz, Laguz or Laukaz, and several reconstructed vocalizations vary by scholarly convention, so the row preserves that variation.
The reason for this explicit hedging is simple: a Unicode character name is an encoding label, not a record of the word used by every ancient runewriter. Elder Futhark inscriptions did not preserve a complete contemporary glossary beside the alphabet, and many familiar names and literal glosses are scholarly reconstructions informed by later Germanic rune-name traditions. By labelling each gloss as reconstructed or as a common-name literal gloss and by attaching a row-level uncertainty note, the catalogue keeps the distinction between encoding facts and linguistic reconstruction visible to the reader.
How the catalogue behaves when you cannot type a Runic character
Because every result carries text labels for code point, transliteration, aett, position, literal gloss, Unicode name, and uncertainty, the meaning of a row never depends on the decorative Runic glyph rendering correctly. If your system font cannot draw a particular Runic character and instead shows a box or blank, the uppercase Unicode name and the code point remain readable, so you can still identify the row and continue searching. Controls use native search and selection behavior, minimum 44-pixel targets, and visible focus treatment, and the rune list gains a bounded vertical scroll only when the layout actually requires it.
What the catalogue deliberately does not do
The catalogue is a historical-language reference, not a divination tool. It does not draw a rune, assign modern spiritual keywords, calculate a reading, diagnose personality, forecast an outcome, or claim supernatural accuracy. Literal name glosses such as cattle, gift, hail, or sun are historical-language reference labels, not instructions about romance, money, health, career, safety, or future events. This boundary matters for anyone arriving at the tool through a search about "rune meanings": the answers you find describe what scholars have reconstructed, not what a rune allegedly predicts.
It is also worth noting how the tool handles your input. Search queries, aett filters, and reset actions run entirely in browser memory. There is no fetch call, no third-party dictionary request, no account gate, no localStorage record, no sessionStorage record, and no query log from the widget. Resetting restores the full 24-entry catalogue and selects the first entry, and the catalogue itself never persists search state or filter state on its own. If you want a clean view, refresh the page and start over; the 24 entries will be there, in the same three aett groups of eight, ready to be searched again.