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An alphabet that got smaller.
Also known as: Scandinavian runes, Viking Age runes
The reduced runic alphabet of the Viking Age, cut from twenty-four letters to sixteen.
Writes Old Norse in sixteen runes.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
Reduced from twenty-four at exactly the period the language was gaining sounds, so the script became less precise as the language became more complex — the opposite of what a writing system is expected to do.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
Sixteen runes of straight strokes cut for carving, with several letters each covering sounds that earlier had separate signs.