ᛅᚱᚴᛁ

Historically the purpose is probably saving space, most of the time. Other times it's probably to look cool. I mean, the thing is, like with most things related to runes, they're kind of just there when archaeologists find the thing they're written on, so the "why" is something speculated about after the fact.

It's suspected that some magical staves such as these were constructed by making bindrunes and then stylized to make the composition less clear:

For more on different types of bindrunes, see this post: https://thorraborinn.tumblr.com/post/180651108938/hello-one-day-i-saw-that-a-witch-had-a-rune

In modern times people use them to make Austin Spare-style sigils for religious/ritual/magical purposes, not really dissimilar to these staves above.

Given my followers had to correct me like...three times on my last merch designs with runes, I'm probably the least qualified person to ask this lol

I've suggested ways to translate this into Old Norse before, I believe I previously went with: "Líf svartra hafa virðingu" which means 'Lives of Black (people) have worth.'

It would also be reasonable to use the standard Modern Icelandic: "Líf svartra skipta máli." This directly translates "Black Lives Matter," but the phrase "skipta máli" 'to matter' isn't found in Old Norse, hence the alternative I came up with before.

Over time, I've shifted my own preference to the Modern Icelandic, because it connects to an ongoing modern movement, and also just because while the phrase skipta máli may not be attested in writing, we don't know for sure that it wasn't used in speech. To write this, I would do it like this:

ᛚᛁᚠ ᛬ ᛋᚢᛆᚱᛐᚱᛅ ᛬ ᛋᚴᛁᚠᛐᛆ ᛬ ᛘᛆᛚᛁ lif : suartra : skifta : mali líf svartra skipta máli 'Black Lives Matter'

That isn't the only way to write it, but the reason I chose the specific spellings I did is that this would (mostly by fortunate coincidence) be a valid way to write it for any time from fairly early in the Viking age all the way through to Modern Icelandic.

For someone who prefers Elder Futhark, we would have to get much more speculative, but the above phrase could be backformed into language contemporary to Elder Futhark, even if it's more likely to be anachronistic:

ᛚᛁᛒᚢ ᛬ ᛊᚹᚨᚱᛏᛖᛉᛟ ᛬ ᛊᚲᛁᚠᛏᛁᛃᚨᚾ ᛬ ᛗᚨᚦᛚᛖ libu : swarteʀo : skiftijan : maþle lību swartēʀō skiftijan maþlē 'Black Lives Matter' Of course, this is completely incomprehensible to most people, so it might be more useful to write the English phrase, but using runes. There are different ways to do that. As is often the case, you have to find a sweet spot between what would have been done back when runes were the vernacular writing system, and what people will actually be able to read. If you try to "sound it out" the way that old rune-writers seem to have, it might look something like this:

Elder Futhark: ᛒᛚᚨᚲ ᛬ ᛚᚨᛁᛒᛉ ᛬ ᛗᚨᛏᛖᚱ blak : laibʀ : mater Younger Futhark (very tough, not recommended) Late YF/"Medieval runes": ᛒᛚᛅᚴ ᛬ ᛚᛆᛁᚡᛋ ᛬ ᛘᛅᛐᛂᚱ blæk : laivz : mæter

Most people don't know that in Elder Futhark a b-rune makes a v-sound (though many people know the runic word gibu 'give'), so using an f or a w does make sense in order to help people understand what they're looking at (as some of the responses indicated). I would probably use w in that case, because although it isn't technically accurate, it's the way that most people handle "v" for Elder Futhark, and in my estimation will be the most legible to the most people.

(Yes, in YF, and f makes a [v] sound in the same places that an EF b does, but in EF, an f is always an [f] sound).

woke up crying after hearing something really great in my dream so I'm tweeting it in case someone else needs to hear it

(orange heart emoji)

"you deserve to celebrate not only who you've become, but who you could've become and fought not to."

Vultures are holy creatures.

Tending the dead.

Bowing low.

Bared head.

Whispers to cold flesh,

“Your old name is not your king.

‘No Work, No Prisons, No Alienation’

The Flower Moon in a cobalt sky

“Last Light”