Deciphering the runes

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 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

Table showing different rune "fonts."

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 generally quite similar with only mild differences in the structure of the corresponding letters however 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 completely 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

Alphabet	Modern	Archaic	Note	Alphabet	Modern	Archaic	Note
A		File:Archaic a.gif		N	File:Modern n.gif	File:Archaic n.gif
B		File:Archaic b.gif		O		File:Archaic o.gif
C		File:Archaic c.gif		P		File:Archaic p.gif
D	File:Modern d.gif	File:Archaic d.gif		Q
E		File:Archaic e.gif		R		File:Archaic r.gif
F		File:Archaic f.gif		S	File:Modern s.gif	File:Archaic s.gif
G		File:Archaic g.gif		T	File:Modern t.gif	File:Archaic t.gif
H		File:Archaic h.gif		U		File:Archaic u.gif
I		File:Archaic i.gif		V		File:Archaic v.gif
J	File:Modern j.gif			W		File:Archaic w.gif
K	File:Modern k.gif	File:Archaic k.gif		X
L	File:Modern l.gif			Y		File:Archaic y.gif
M		File:Archaic m.gif		Z		File:Archaic z.gif

Translated screencaps

Episode 1

Screencap	Text (transcripted)	Translation	Observations and speculations
File:Ep1 Rune Tasuke ni Kitayo.png	"Tasuke ni kita yo" (助けに来たよ)	"[Someone] came to help" or "Help came."	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	(transcription needed)	"Fight harmful/damaging insects!"
	"Moero" (燃えろ)	"to burn."	It's written on a fire extinguisher, so it is most likely a joke rather than something to be taken seriously.
	Du mußt verstehn! Aus Eins mach’ Zehn, Und Zwey laß gehn, Und Drey mach’ gleich, 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!	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!	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)
	(transcription needed)	"The lush branches hinder good ventilation"

Extras

"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.

• Download TTF font
• Greasemonkey script (replace spoilers by Runespeak)
• Greasemonkey script (replace spoilers and [madoka] tags)

Using Greasemonkey scripts

1. Download and install the Greasemonkey add-on:
   • Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox
   • NinjaKit extension for Safari
   • Chrome already has built-in support for Greasemonkey
2. Download and install the MadokaRunes font
3. Install the script
4. Restart your browser if necessary
5. Spoilers and/or [madoka] tags will now be displayed in runic script

Added tag