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Fæder úre
English
Old English
Runes

ᚠᚫᛞᛖᚱ ᚢᚱᛖ᛫ ᚦᚢ ᚦᛖ ᛠᚱᛏ ᚩᚾ ᚻᛇᚠᚩᚾᚢᛗ᛫
Fæder úre, þú þe eart on heofonum,
Our Father, who art in Heaven,
ᛋᛁ ᚦᛁᚾ ᚾᚪᛗᚪ ᛄᛖᚻᚪᛚᚷᚩᛞ᛬
sí þín nama gehálgod.
hallowed be Thy Name.
ᛏᚩ ᛒᛖᛣᚢᛗᛖ ᚦᛁᚾ ᚱᛁᚳᛖ᛫
Tó-becume þín ríce;
Thy Kingdom come,
ᛄᛖᚹᛇᚱᚦᛖ ᚦᛁᚾ ᚹᛁᛚᚪ
geweorðe þín willa
Thy Will be done,
ᚩᚾ ᛇᚱᚦᚪᚾ ᛋᚹᚪ ᛋᚹᚪ ᚩᚾ ᚻᛇᚠᚩᚾᚢᛗ᛬
on eorðan swá swá on heofonum.
on Earth, as it is in Heaven.
ᚢᚱᚾᛖ ᛞᚫᛄᚻᚹᚪᛗᛚᛁᛣᚪᚾ ᚻᛚᚪᚠ ᛋᚣᛚᛖ ᚢᛋ ᛏᚩ ᛞᚫᛄ᛫
Úrne dæghwámlican hláf syle ús tó-dæg;
Give us this day our daily bread,
ᚠᚩᚱᛄᚣᚠ ᚢᛋ ᚢᚱᛖ ᚸᚣᛚᛏᚪᛋ᛫
Forgyf ús úre gyltas,
and forgive us our trespasses,
ᛋᚹᚪ ᛋᚹᚪ ᚹᛖ ᚠᚩᚱᛄᚣᚠᚪᚦ ᚢᚱᚢᛗ ᚸᚣᛚᛏᛖᚾᛞᚢᛗ ᛫
swá swá wé forgyfað úrum gyltendum ;
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
ᚪᚾᛞ ᚾᛖ ᛄᛖᛚᚫᛞ ᚦᚢ ᚢᛋ ᚩᚾ ᛣᚩᛤᚾᚢᛝᛣᛖ᛫
And ne gelǽd þú ús on costnunge,
And lead us not into temptation,
ᚪᛣ ᚪᛚᚣᛋ ᚢᛋ ᚩᚠ ᚣᚠᛖᛚᛖ᛬
ac álýs ús of yfele.
but deliver us from evil.



ᛋᚩᚦᛚᛁᚳᛖ᛬
Sóðlice.
Amen.

Commentary
The Old English text of the Lord’s Prayer is known from several translations of the Gospels into this language. This version from the Wessex Gospels displays a relatively late form of the West Saxon dialect, around the end of the 10th century.

The translation is a traditional English version from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, still used by the Catholic Church. This must have been the version familiar to Tolkien.

The text is transcribed in Anglo-Saxon runes, also called Futhorc, used in England from the 5th to the 11th century, and exemplified by J. R. R. Tolkien in the foreword of The Hobbit. We made use of Robert Pfeffer’s typeface Pfeffer Mediæval.  Open this mode in Glaemscribe

References
Brook, G[eorge] L[eslie]. An introduction to Old English. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1966. 138 p.
Thorpe, Benjamin. Ða Halgan Godspel on Englisc: the Anglo-Saxon version of the holy Gospels. London: J. F. G. and J. Rivington, 1842. 256 p. 🌍 Internet Archive.
Stévanovitch, Colette. Manuel d’histoire de la langue anglaise des origines à nos jours. Paris : Ellipses, 1997. 159 p. ISBN 2-7298-4769-3.

The works of John Ronald Reuel and Christopher Tolkien are under the copyright of their authors and/or rights holders, including their publishers and the Tolkien Estate.
Quotations from other authors, editors and translators mentioned in the bibliography are under the copyright of their publishers, except for those whose copyright term has ended.
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