5 ways to spell “Pearl” with Runes

In this post we’ll cover five ways of writing the word “Pearl”, with runes. We’ll start with the Elder Futhark runes.

Keep in mind there is no exact way to write modern English words like “Pearl” with any ancient runes.

In the past, runes were used to represent early European languages, which have very different phonetics compared to today’s English.

How to write Pearl” in Elder Futhark Runes

The easy way: Replacing each letter to spell “Pearl”

The above Elder Futhark spelling of “Pearl” is converted using a letter-by-letter replacement as shown in the table below. It is a non-phonetic approach to rune spelling.

Elder Futhark Rune	Closest English Letters
ᛈ	p
ᛖ	e
ᚨ	a
ᚱ	r
ᛚ	l

This is the easiest way, and for most of today’s use cases it’s most likely the best way. But, is it the most accurate way to spell “Pearl” with Futhark runes? Usually, no. While it may be the easiest to decipher for modern English readers, it may not be the closest from a phonetic or pronunciation perspective.

Have you ever cast runes for greater insight into your life?
Try our excellent free online rune readings now!

A better rune spelling of “Pearl”?

The above runic spelling of “Pearl” employs a mostly letter-by-letter substitution, with some smarter letter swaps to more closely match rune-sounds with contemporary English.

A closer phonetic rune spelling of “Pearl”?

While there aren’t actually runes to match each of our modern English vocalizations, the above spelling of “Pearl” tries to match sounds (Pronounced pɜrl) instead of a matching rune for each letter.

Even though this may be the the closest sounding spelling, it may actually be the most cryptic to decipher for those unfamiliar with the phonetic sounds of each rune. (Also, it’s important to note that there will always be differences between the rune phonetics and today’s English speech).

Did you know runes can reveal insights into your past, present and future?
Try iFate’s popular free online rune readings now!

How to write Pearl” in the Younger Futhark

Compared to the 24 individual runes of the Elder Futhark, the Younger Futhark contains only sixteen individual runes. This limited set of rune symbols means every one of the runes of the Younger Futhark must be used somewhat creatively to represent our today’s English letters.

Younger Futhark spelling of “Pearl”

Above is a spelling which uses the Younger Futhark runes and uses a letter-by-letter substitution as per the table below. It is a non-phonetic way of writing modern words with runes. For most cases, like signage, etc. — where the Younger Futhark is needed, this is probably your best bet.

Younger Futhark Rune	Closest Latin Letter
ᛒ	b
ᛅ	a, e
ᛅ	a, e
ᚱ	r
ᛚ	l

A Better Younger Futhark Spelling?

Here’s a better way to write the word “pearl” in Younger Futhark runes:

As you can see in the table below, this approach takes advantage of Younger Futhark rune sounds which more closely match the English pronunciation of “Pearl”:

Younger Futhark Rune	Closest Latin Sound
ᛒ	b
ᛅ	a, e
ᛦ	r
ᛚ	l

NOTE: Neither Elder nor Younger Futhark runes were meant to be used for contemporary English terms like “Pearl”. So there’s no 100% right way of writing twenty-first century English sounds with runes, which were conceived centuries earlier, and used to represent different languages and dialects. On top of that, we don’t really have any idea how Elder Futhark runes were pronounced in ancient Europe, especially when you add in the fact that runes were used widely by multiple cultures across ancient Europe — and across a timeframe of several centuries. The best we can do is to approximate some of our phonetics using the ancient phonetics that we think apply most closely.