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I have recently come into posession of Mjolnir

Mjolnir with rune scribblings

It has runes written on four sides, like in the picture, and these runes are mirrored (written symmetrical) on other four sides. I assume, that these runes translate to "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." But I would like to know:

  1. Does this writing means anything?
  2. If so, in what language it is written? (Is it real or something in-marvel-universe)

I've written these runes to the paper runes on paper

There four lines for "phrase" on every side. I am not sure, that I've written them right and not-mirrored, I was using this image of runes to guide me.

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  • "He who wields this hammer commands the lightning and the storm," apparently.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 21:13
  • echostains.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/viking-runes.jpg
    – Valorum
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 21:14
  • @Richard How did you get it? I've tried to translate first line and got wutharkgwhnij. Also first symbol is absent in table you linked(translating, I assumed it is thurisaz).
    – DoctorMoisha
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 21:22
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    Don't ask me. I didn't translate it, I just linked some links I found.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jan 27, 2016 at 21:27
  • Look at the Old Turkic alphabet and Proto-Turkic language letters
    – Mustafa Şerif
    Commented Apr 13, 2017 at 14:56

2 Answers 2

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This is backward-written runic of a combination of sources. It is a mix of Elder and Younger Futhark, Anglo Saxon runes, and the script from Ultima, if the 4th rune from the left, on the top row, is any indication. I believe it to be rubbish -- there's a lot of consonants, but only a handful of vowels.

The first two lines read:

w u th a r k g w h n i j h ia n i j m s s x/z l nj [the symbol for the sun here]

It also used a few Greek letters, which is... special... for a race supposedly older than us.

Not Asgardian

Looking at this over a year later, I realized it's literally a slightly stylized revision of the Elder Furthark alphabet on Wikipedia! It's meaningless!

Furthark

The order itself is the same as was described in the Old English rune poem that described the Old English names for the runes. This is due to Elder Futhark going out of vogue shortly after it started being simplified into Younger Futhark and Anglo Saxon Futhorc, coinciding with the heyday of Old English and possibly even being written during the rule of Alfred the Great, who established libraries and schools to teach Old English to the populace.

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    “It also used a few Greek letters, which is... special... for a race supposedly older than us.” — Maybe the Greeks actually got the letters from them!
    – Paul D. Waite
    Commented Jan 28, 2016 at 9:53
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    @PaulD.Waite Greek script is based on Phoenecian, itself based on Egyptian heiroglyphs!
    – user40790
    Commented Jan 28, 2016 at 16:11
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    which was clearly inspired by Norse gods!
    – Paul D. Waite
    Commented Jan 28, 2016 at 16:27
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    Who were really aliens!
    – Matt Gutting
    Commented Jan 28, 2016 at 19:38
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    Note that the absence of vowels is not necessarily indicative of nonsense: some runic writing did a sort of "omit vowels, except when you don't" thing. Unfortunately, that sort of writing can be very hard to decipher unless you already know what it says, and/or speak the language fluently. (Note that I'm not saying this particular hammer has anything other than gibberish on it; I'm just saying that vowel count isn't as definite an indication as it would be in, say, English.)
    – Martha
    Commented Feb 19, 2016 at 2:34
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The rune that looks like an up-pointing arrow is for Tw, a Thor-like god type. Pronounced too, I think. Possibly Welsh.

edit: @Aegon: Wales is Anglo-Saxon.

The Norse and Welsh had common ancestors.

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  • Definitely not Welsh. That's Tiwaz, or Tyr symbol used by Anglo Saxons who are certainly not Welsh.
    – Aegon
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 8:35
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    But it does represent a god named Tyr.
    – Aegon
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 8:36
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    Welsh and Anglo-Saxon are quite different. Although technically yes, if you go back far enough everything has a common ancestor.
    – tardigrade
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 9:22
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    That's like equating Anglo-Saxons with Persians and Indians because they are all supposed to have one common Proto-Indo-European ancestor.
    – Aegon
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 10:07
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    Welsh language itself is Celtic while Anglo-Saxon/English is West-Germanic. Not to mention, this research indicates Welsh people existed long before Anglo-Saxons ever landed in Britain
    – Aegon
    Commented Aug 11, 2016 at 10:09

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