Study of Ancient Runes

Study of Ancient Runes
Class information
Professor	Bathsheba Babbling
Classroom	Classroom 6A Room of Runes (possibly)
Required textbooks	Ancient Runes Made Easy Rune Dictionary Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms Spellman's Syllabary Advanced Rune Translation

The Study of Ancient Runes (commonly shortened to Ancient Runes) is an elective course at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that can be taken by students third year and above. It was taught by Professor Bathsheda Babbling during the 1990s at least and it is the study of runic scriptures, or Runology. Ancient Runes is a mostly theoretical subject that studies the ancient runic scripts of magic.

Class materials

Words learned in this class

Only two words and their English translations are known. Hermione mixed these two words up on her Study of Ancient Runes O.W.L. exam.

• Ehwaz means "Partnership"
• Eihwaz means "Defence"

Numbers

Ancient Runes Made Easy, showing the Ancient Rune numbers.

• Demiguise: the creature's invisibility abilities represents "0".
• Unicorn: the creature's single horn represents "1".
• Graphorn: the creature's dual horns represent "2".
• Runespoor: the triple-headed creature represents "3".
• Fwooper: the creature comprised of four different colours in feathers represents "4".
• Quintaped: the five legs of the creature represents "5".
• Salamander: the maximum hours of the creature's ability to survive out of fire and the amount of legs most said creatures have represents "6".
• Unknown: due to the magically powerful number still being shrouded in mysteries, the unknown symbol represents "7".
• Acromantula: the eight-eyed creature represents "8".
• Hydra: the nine-headed creature represents "9".

Required reading

• Advanced Rune Translation
• Ancient Runes Made Easy
• Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms
• Rune Dictionary
• Spellman's Syllabary

Known O.W.L.s

• Barty Crouch Jr
• Bill Weasley
• Hermione Granger
• Percy Weasley
• Bathsheda Babbling

Behind the Scenes

• Throughout all of the Harry Potter books and film adaptions, not a single Ancient Runes class was seen taking place.
• In reality, the words mentioned by Hermione in the Order of the Phoenix are Proto-Germanic runes. Ehwaz literally means "horse", while eihwaz literally means "yew-tree."
• A variety of Elder Futhark runes are depicted on Lucius's Azkaban placard in the film. The easily identified ones are: Othila, which means "estate, heritage, possession" and corresponds to the Latin letter "o"; Fehu (albeit rotated slightly), meaning "one of the Æsir (gods)" and corresponds to the Latin letter "a"; Uruz, meaning "wild ox" or "water" and corresponds to the Latin letter "u"; and Mannaz, meaning "man" and corresponds to the Latin letter "m". This (along with the presence of the aforementioned two other Elder Futhark runes in the novel) suggests that the Elder Futhark runic alphabet at least (if not others too) is very much in use in the wizarding world and most likely learnt in Study of Ancient Runes, albeit with some additions from wizardkind, such as the numbers.
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, one of the items is a rune book.
• Luna and Xenophilius Lovegood may have both taken this subject as the latter published some runic texts in an issue of his magazine (the Quibbler) whilst the former explained the information contained in those runic texts.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)