Deciphering the runes: Difference between revisions
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=== Episode 1 === | === Episode 1 === | ||
{|class="wikitable" style="line-height: 1.6em;" | {|class="wikitable" style="line-height: 1.6em; width: 100%;" | ||
! style="text-align: center; background: #efefef;"|Screencap | ! style="text-align: center; background: #efefef; width: 300px;"|Screencap | ||
! style="text-align: center; background: #efefef;"|Text (transcripted) | ! style="text-align: center; background: #efefef;"|Text (transcripted) | ||
! style="text-align: center; background: #efefef;"|Translation | ! style="text-align: center; background: #efefef;"|Translation | ||
|- | |- | ||
| [[File:Prolog in himmel.jpg| | | [[File:Prolog in himmel.jpg|300px]] | ||
| style="text-align: center"|Prolog im Himmel [Archaic] | | style="text-align: center"|Prolog im Himmel [Archaic] | ||
| style="text-align: center"|Prologue in Heaven | | 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. | *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. | *Prolog im Himmel is the title of the first scene in Goethe's Faust. | ||
|- | |- | ||
| [[File:Ep1 Rune Tasuke ni Kitayo.png| | | [[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"|"tasuke ni kita yo" (助けに来たよ) [Modern] | ||
| style="text-align: center"|"[someone] came to help" / "help came" | | style="text-align: center"|"[someone] came to help" / "help came" | ||
| | |- | ||
|colspan="3"| | |||
*This image appears above Madoka and Miki just before Mami saves them | *This image appears above Madoka and Miki just before Mami saves them | ||
*There are various questions regarding this text: | *There are various questions regarding this text: | ||
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**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? | **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| | | [[File:Ep1 Rune Harmful Insects.png|300px]] | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|"Bekämpfe schädliche Insekten!" [Archaic] | | style="text-align: center;"|"Bekämpfe schädliche Insekten!" [Archaic] | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|"Fight harmful/damaging insects!" | | style="text-align: center;"|"Fight harmful/damaging insects!" | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|"moero" (燃えろ) [Modern?] | | style="text-align: center;"|"moero" (燃えろ) [Modern?] | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|"to burn" | | style="text-align: center;"|"to burn" | ||
| | |- | ||
|colspan="3"| | |||
*Written on a fire extinguisher, most likely an ironic joke. | *Written on a fire extinguisher, most likely an ironic joke. | ||
|- | |- | ||
| [[File:Ep1 Rune Das Hexeneinmaleins.jpg| | | [[File:Ep1 Rune Das Hexeneinmaleins.jpg|300px]] | ||
| style="text-align: | | style="text-align: left;"|<b>Du mußt verstehn!<br> | ||
Aus Eins mach’ Zehn,<br> | Aus Eins mach’ Zehn,<br> | ||
Und Zwey laß gehn,<br> | Und Zwey laß gehn,<br> | ||
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Und Zehn ist keins.<br> | Und Zehn ist keins.<br> | ||
Das ist das Hexen-Einmal-Eins! | Das ist das Hexen-Einmal-Eins! | ||
| style="text-align: left | | style="text-align: left;"|<b>This you must ken (understand)!<br> | ||
From one make ten,<br> | From one make ten,<br> | ||
And two let be,<br> | And two let be,<br> | ||
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And ten is none,<br> | And ten is none,<br> | ||
That is the witch's one-time-one! | That is the witch's one-time-one! | ||
| | |- | ||
|colspan="3"| | |||
* The runes are to be read right-to-left. | * 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) | * 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) | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|"Die <b>üppige</b> Äste behindern <b>gute</b> Durchlüftung" [Archaic] | | style="text-align: center;"|"Die <b>üppige</b> Äste behindern <b>gute</b> Durchlüftung" [Archaic] | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|"The lush branches hinder good ventilation" | | 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. | * 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. | * This could be either an animation error or an intended help for deciphering the runes. |
Revision as of 02:27, 20 January 2011
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 Rosetta Stone, an anonymous found and 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
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
Translated screencaps
Episode 1
Screencap | Text (transcripted) | Translation |
---|---|---|
Prolog im Himmel [Archaic] | Prologue in Heaven | |
| ||
File:Ep1 Rune Tasuke ni Kitayo.png | "tasuke ni kita yo" (助けに来たよ) [Modern] | "[someone] came to help" / "help came" |
| ||
File:Ep1 Rune Harmful Insects.png | "Bekämpfe schädliche Insekten!" [Archaic] | "Fight harmful/damaging insects!" |
"moero" (燃えろ) [Modern?] | "to burn" | |
| ||
Du mußt verstehn! Aus Eins mach’ Zehn, |
This you must ken (understand)! From one make ten, | |
| ||
"Die üppige Äste behindern gute Durchlüftung" [Archaic] | "The lush branches hinder good ventilation" | |
|
Extras
A custom font had been created using the Runic characters and a Greasemonkey script allowed 4channers to communicate on the board in Runespeak.
- Download TTF font
- Greasemonkey script (replace spoilers by Runespeak)
- Greasemonkey script (replace spoilers and [madoka] tags)
Using Greasemonkey scripts
- Download and install the Greasemonkey add-on:
- Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox
- 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
Added tag