[[File:runes_translated.jpg|thumb|Runes as of Episode 2]]

The runes that randomly appear in the Magic World have nearly been solved. This page is meant to show the current works and discoveries in the domain, as well as the latest discussions and hypothesis.

==History==

Initial efforts at codebreaking began by identifying each unique rune and assigning it a random letter for identification. The general (correct) assumption was that each rune corresponded to a letter in German but at the time it was still possible that the text was encrypted, a newly constructed language or even that they were just scattered completely at random. German was chosen as the most likely candidate because it appeared as direct quotes from Goeth's Faust and the Cottonballs/Pringlemen/Anthony's were observed to be chanting in German. Other candidate languages were; Japanese, English and Latin (due to the use of "Puella" in the title).

A number of codebreaking methods were tried unsuccessfully. For example; attempts at identifying the letters thorugh numerical analysis of their frequency failed, implying that the runic script was not really a language (see complications below). A more focused approach, taking a single word or short phrase and attempting to match an appropriate German word to it also failed due to large amount of possible matches.

After some urging to use the Faust quotes as a [[wikipedia:Rosetta Stone|Rosetta Stone]], an anonymous found and [http://green-oval.net/cgi-board.pl/a/thread/44782290#p44786690 posted] a line of runes which matched one of those quotes. The runes and the German sign they matched are marked in red on the translation chart for episodes one and two.

This discovery confirmed that the runic script was a direct substitution for German letters and provided an initial set of translated runes to work with. /a/ quickly got to work using this starting set to translate more lines and fill in the gaps. Within 21 hours of this discovery, the vast majority of runic text appearing in the first two episodes had been translated into German and English, all letters had been identified (except Q and X which are extremely rare in German).

==Complications==

[[File:Runes_chart.gif|thumb|Rough reference sheet showing the different rune alphabets.]]

Throughout the translation process, efforts were hampered by several complications:

;Runic fonts
:There are at least three structurally distinct variants of the runic script. The two most common variants are known as modern and archaic. Corresponding letters are generally quite similar with only mild variation in their overall structure but a few letters, such as T, are completely different from each other. The third and least common variant is constructed from elements found in musical scores, and many of the runes are unrecognizable.
;Typos
:Whether by mistake or on purpose (to frustrate codebreakers) approximately half of the lines of script contain one or more typos or misspelt words.
;Spacing
:Many lines of script have no spacing between the words or may be seperated in a deceptive manner. Also, some lines have multiple adjacent letters overlaid on the same space.

==Table of runes==

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" width="100%"
! Alphabet
! style="width:100px;"| Modern
! style="width:100px;"| Archaic
! style="width:100px;"| Note
! Alphabet
! style="width:100px;"| Modern
! style="width:100px;"| Archaic
! style="width:100px;"| Note
|-
! A
| [[File:Modern a.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_a.gif]]
|
! N
| [[File:Modern_n.png]]
| [[File:Archaic_n.png]]
|
|-
! B
| [[File:Modern_b.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_b.gif]]
|
! O
| [[File:Modern_o.png]]
| [[File:Archaic_o.png]]
|
|-
! C
| [[File:Modern_c.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_c.gif]]
|
! P
| [[File:Modern_p.png]]
| [[File:Archaic_p.png]]
|
|-
! D
| [[File:Modern_d.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_d.gif]]
|
! Q
|
|
|
|-
! E
| [[File:Modern_e.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_e.gif]]
|
! R
| [[File:Modern_r.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_r.gif]]
|
|-
! F
|
| [[File:Archaic_f.gif]]
|
! S
| [[File:Modern_s.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_s.gif]]
|
|-
! G
| [[File:Modern_g.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_g.gif]]
|
! T
| [[File:Modern_t.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_t.gif]]
|
|-
! H
| [[File:Modern_h.png]]
| [[File:Archaic h.png]]
|
! U
| [[File:Modern_u.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_u.gif]]
| [[File:Musical u.png]]
|-
! I
| [[File:Modern i.png]]
| [[File:Modern l.png]]
|
! V
|
| [[File:Archaic_v.gif]]
| [[File:Archaic_v.gif]]
|-
! J
| [[File:Modern j.png]]
| [[File:Archaic j.png]]
|
! W
|
| [[File:Archaic_w.gif]]
|
|-
! K
| [[File:Modern k.png]]
| [[File:Archaic_k.gif]]
|
! X
|
|
|
|-
! L
| [[File:Modern_l.png]]
| [[File:Archaic_l.png]]
|
! Y
|
| [[File:Archaic_y.gif]]
|
|-
! M
| [[File:Modern_m.png]]
| [[File:Archaic_m.png]]
|
! Z
|
| [[File:Archaic_z.png]]
|
|}

==Translated screencaps==

=== Episode 1 ===

{|class="wikitable" style="line-height: 1.6em; width: 100%;"
! style="text-align: center; background: #efefef; width: 300px;"|Screencap
! style="text-align: center; background: #efefef;"|Text (transcripted)
! style="text-align: center; background: #efefef;"|Translation
|-
| [[File:Prolog in himmel.jpg|300px]]
| style="text-align: center"|Prolog im Himmel [Archaic]
| style="text-align: center"|Prologue in Heaven
|-
|colspan="3"|
*This is the first shot of the anime, and comes before Madoka's dream of Homura.
*Prolog im Himmel is the title of the first scene in Goethe's Faust, in which Mephistopheles and God make a wager over the soul of Faust.
|-
| [[File:Ep1 Rune Tasuke ni Kitayo.png|300px]]
| style="text-align: center"|"tasuke ni kita yo" (助けに来たよ) [Modern]
| style="text-align: center"|"[someone] came to help" / "help came"
|-
|colspan="3"|
*This image appears above Madoka and Miki just before Mami saves them
*There are various questions regarding this text:
**Is it saying that Mami is the one that came to help?
**Why does this message bear the witch's kiss symbol?
**Is the message from a Witch, rather than from Mami?
**When the Anthonies talked they spoke in German with runes appearing on screen. Is the Witch trying to tell Madoka that it is there to help? If so, why, and from whom does the witch want to save them? Mami?
|-
| [[File:Ep1 Rune Harmful Insects.png|300px]]
| style="text-align: center;"|"Bekämpfe schädliche Insekten!" [Archaic]
| style="text-align: center;"|"Fight harmful/damaging insects!"
|-
| [[File:Ep1 Rune Moero.jpg|250px]]
| style="text-align: center;"|"moero" (燃えろ) [Modern?]
| style="text-align: center;"|"burn up"
|-
|colspan="3"|
*Written on a fire extinguisher, most likely an ironic joke.
|-
| [[File:Ep1 Rune Das Hexeneinmaleins.jpg|300px]]
| style="text-align: left;"|Du mußt verstehn! 
Aus Eins mach’ Zehn, 
Und Zwey laß gehn, 
Und Drey mach’ gleich, [Archaic] 
So bist du reich. 
Verlier’ die Vier! 
Aus Fünf und Sechs, 
So sagt die Hex’, 
Mach’ Sieben und Acht, 
So ist’s vollbracht: 
Und Neun ist Eins, 
Und Zehn ist keins. 
Das ist das Hexen-Einmal-Eins!
| style="text-align: left;"|This you must ken (understand)! 
From one make ten, 
And two let be, 
Make even three, 
Then rich you'll be. 
Skip o'er the four! 
From five and six, 
The Witch's tricks, 
Make seven and eight, 
'Tis finished straight;
And nine is one, 
And ten is none, 
That is the witch's one-time-one!
|-
|colspan="3"|
* The runes are to be read right-to-left.
* After the Anthonies appear in Episode 1, the first four lines of the Hexeneinmaleins fly past the screen. The Hexeneinmaleins is an excerpt of Goethe's Faust. (Hexe meaning Witch)
|-
| [[File:Ep1 Ventilation Sign.png|250px]]
| style="text-align: center;"|"Die üppige Äste behindern gute Durchlüftung" [Archaic]
| style="text-align: center;"|"The lush branches hinder good ventilation"
|-
|colspan="3"|
* Two words of this German sentence, "üppige" and "gute", are written with archaic runes. Though the "p" looks a bit different than in the current charts.
* This could be either an animation error or an intended help for deciphering the runes.
|}

==Extras==
=== Runic Font ===

[[File:Shaftspeak.jpg|thumb|right|300px|"This is so cool, I can write in SHAFTspeak!"]]

A custom font had been created using the Runic characters and a Greasemonkey script allowed 4channers to communicate on the board in Runespeak.

*[http://www.mediafire.com/?ovtdsyuvf2nmfp7 Download TTF font]
*[http://www.mediafire.com/?2i1swqecae4v84n Single Letters (SVG)]
*[http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/94741 Greasemonkey script] (replace spoilers by Runespeak)
*[http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6792608/madoka_tag.user.js Greasemonkey script] (replace spoilers and [madoka] tags)

=== Using runes on this wiki ===
You can also use runes on this wiki with the <nowiki>{{Runes}}</nowiki> template, e.g. <nowiki>{{Runes|Deny the obvious, uphold the inane}}</nowiki> becomes {{Runes|Deny the obvious, uphold the inane}}.

===Using Greasemonkey scripts===
#Download and install the Greasemonkey add-on:
#*[http://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/748 Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox]
#*[http://d.hatena.ne.jp/os0x/20100612/1276330696 NinjaKit extension for Safari]
#*Chrome natively supports userscripts
#Download and install the MadokaRunes font
#Install the script
#Restart your browser if necessary
#Spoilers and/or [madoka] tags will now be displayed in runic script

[[Category:Community Content]]