Preface -- Figures -- Tables -- Chapter 1 What is runology? -- 1.1 The role of paleography -- 1.2 Proper focus -- 1.3 Runology and mythology -- Chapter 2 The oldest recorded Germanic -- 2.1 Linguistic reconstruction -- 2.2 Linguistic inventories vs. linguistic structures -- 2.3 Proto-Germanic vowels -- 2.4 Late Proto-Germanic -- 2.5 Defining Proto-Germanic -- 2.6 The end of Proto-Germanic -- 2.7 What's in a name? -- 2.8 Northwest Germanic: Language and inscriptions -- 2.9 The end of Northwest Germanic -- 2.10 Conclusion -- Chapter 3 The earliest Germanic writing system -- 3.1 The nature of runes -- 3.2 The older, or Germanic fuþark -- Chapter 4 The graphemic system of the older runes -- 4.1 Uncertain runes -- 4.2 Distinctive features -- 4.3 Variant runes -- Chapter 5 The fifteenth rune -- 5.1 Earlier attempts at deciphering -- 5.2 The rise of comparative linguistics -- 5.3 The conflict over Schleswig-Holstein -- 5.4 Peter Andreas Munch -- 5.5 Ludvig Wimmer -- 5.6 Present-day scholars -- 5.7 Reinterpretation -- 5.8 Chronology -- 5.9 Northwest Germanic /r/ and /z/ -- 5.10 Conclusion -- Chapter 6 Age and origin of the fuþark -- 6.1 Earlier views on the age and origin -- 6.2 Erik Moltke and the Danish theory -- 6.3 A structural approach to the question of origins -- 6.4 The Latin theory -- 6.5 "Primitive alphabets" -- 6.6 Inscriptions on metal -- 6.7 Writing traditions -- 6.8 Conclusion -- Chapter 7 Reading runic inscriptions -- 7.1 Directionality and arrangement -- 7.2 The Järsberg stone -- 7.3 Other runestones of more than one line -- 7.4 The Tune stone -- 7.5 A question of alignment: The Opedal stone -- 7.6 Hidden boustrophedon -- 7.7 Transposed runes -- 7.8 Conclusion -- Chapter 8 Dating runic inscriptions -- 8.1 Linguistic and runological evidence -- 8.2 Pseudo-evidence for dating -- 8.3 No help from archeologists: The Strøm whetstone.

8.4 Different materials, different shapes? -- 8.5 Relative dating from linguistic evidence -- 8.6 Chronological stalemate in the older period -- Chapter 9 Sacral or secular? -- 9.1 Magical "solutions" and their consequences -- 9.2 "Imaginative" and "skeptical" runologists -- 9.3 Not intended for human eyes -- 9.4 The assumed magical power of the runes -- 9.5 The runemaster, erilaz, as "runemagician" -- 9.6 The runemaster and the cult of Odin -- 9.7 "Runic tradition" through the millenia -- Chapter 10 Runic typology -- 10.1 The role of typology -- 10.2 The nature of the corpus -- 10.3 Inscriptions with isolated words -- 10.4 Names in isolation -- 10.5 Single runes -- 10.6 Isolated names on loose objects -- 10.7 Isolated names on stones -- 10.8 Commemorative inscriptions -- 10.9 Inscriptions without verbs -- 10.10 Symbols of office -- Chapter 11 Phonological rules and paradigms -- 11.1 Laws of final syllables -- 11.2 The phonological rules -- 11.3 Root-consonant and i-stems -- 11.4 Repatterning of the paradigms -- 11.5 Confirming evidence -- 11.6 The genitive plural and trimoric vowels -- 11.7 Proto-Indo-European vowel sequences -- Chapter 12 Some controversial grammatical forms -- 12.1 Proper names in -o -- 12.2 Proper names without endings -- 12.3 Nouns with nominative -s -- 12.4 The verb */faihijanan/ -- 12.5 The ghost-form *irilaz -- Chapter 13 Runic syntax -- 13.1 Linguists' use of runic inscriptions -- 13.2 Descriptive adjectives -- 13.3 Attributive genitive -- 13.4 Pronominal modifiers -- 13.5 Position of the verb -- 13.6 Conclusion -- Chapter 14 "Archaicizing" inscriptions -- 14.1 Vernacular vs. elevated style -- 14.2 The Setre comb -- 14.3 The Ellestad stone -- 14.4 The Strøm whetstone -- 14.5 The Björketorp and Stentoften stones -- 14.6 The Jelling stones 1 and 2 -- Chapter 15 The Weser runebones.

15.1 Pieper's rehabilitation of the Weser inscriptions -- 15.2 Pieper's "imaginative" runological interpretation -- 15.3 Critique of Pieper's interpretation -- 15.4 A "skeptical runological" interpretation -- Chapter 16 Old English digraphic spellings -- 16.1 Diphthongs or monophthongs? -- 16.2 The rise of syllabic variants -- 16.3 Pre-Anglian developments -- 16.4 West Saxon developments -- 16.5 The role of the runes -- References -- Index of inscriptions -- Index of runic words -- Index of names -- Index of subjects.