Vikings' Secret Code Cracked 89
sciencehabit writes "What may look like mere scratches is much more. A 900-year-old Viking code known as jötunvillur has been cracked. The code-cracker, runologist Jonas Nordby from the University of Oslo, deciphered the system after realizing he needed to replace the original runic character with the last sound used to pronounce it. For instance, the runic character 'k' is pronounced 'kaun,' so k becomes n. Nordby believes secret messages were created by the Vikings for entertainment. One piece of wood reads: 'Kiss me.'"
Real story... (Score:5, Informative)
Link to summary that links to article that .... (Score:5, Informative)
Ok, dove through the reference-pit and found this [medievalists.net] as the apparent root story.
Please, either mod this up or edit the Slashsummary to actually link to a useful article in the chain.
Re:Link to summary that links to article that .... (Score:5, Informative)
No, this longer piece http://www.forskning.no/artikler/2014/januar/379474 in Norwegian seems to be the source (by Ida Kvittingen). Oddly the photo credit links there.
Re:Interesting (Score:4, Informative)
Dumb abusive cart barista abuses nouveau caloric gimmick chocolates.
Re:substitution cipher? (Score:5, Informative)
Åruz -> algiz
thurisaz -> algiz
ansuz -> algiz
hagalaz -> algiz
naudiz -> algiz
iwaz -> algiz
algiz -> algiz
tiwaz -> algiz
ehwaz -> algiz
mannaz -> algiz
laguz -> algiz
ingwaz -> algiz
dagaz -> algiz
So their coded documents would have looked like
zzjgu zzzzknzz uzbzz uzzzzzzb zznzzrzzz jzzzzzrzzuzzzrfz zuiz zdzzzzf gzz zzzzzz zzzzzzzzzz zzz
"He must have fell asleep while carving it."
"Well, if he fell asleep, he wouldn't have bothered carving ZZZ, he would have just said it."
"Perhaps he was dictating."