Fictional & gaming

Tolkien Cirth Alphabet

Tolkien’s Cirth (Angerthas) rune chart and quick comparison of Daeron, Moria and Erebor sound values.

Important: Cirth (singular certh) is Tolkien’s invented rune system. There is no official Unicode Cirth alphabet and different modes assign different sounds to some identical symbols. Do not confuse these runes with historical Futhark.

Angerthas: actual rune shapes

This chart compares the signs used in Angerthas Daeron and Angerthas Moria. It is the proper Cirth artwork, not an unrelated Norse rune font.

Comparison chart of Angerthas Daeron and Moria Cirth rune shapes and phonetic values

The chart file is not installed yet. Run DOWNLOAD-CHARTS.bat from the ZIP before uploading. You may also see the original chart.

Mode comparison

Numbers in the first column identify standard Cirth characters. The chart above shows their shapes; these values provide a quick sound reference. Abbreviations and some conventions vary by source and language.

Filter by rune number or sound

Certh no.	Daeron	Moria	Erebor
1	p	p	p
2	b	b	b
3	f	f	f
4	v	v	v
5	hw	hw	hw
6	m	m	m
8	t	t	t
9	d	d	d
10	th	th	th
11	dh	dh	dh
12	n	n	n
13	ch	ch	ch
14	j	j	j
15	sh	sh	sh
16	zh	—	zh
17	nj	z	ks
18	k	k	k
19	g	g	g
20	kh	kh	kh
21	gh	gh	gh
22	ŋ	ŋ	ŋ
29	r	r	g
31	l	l	l
33	ng	nd	nd
34	s	s	s
36	z	z	z
39	i	i	i
42	u	u	u
44	w	w	w
46	e	e	e
48	a	a	a
50	o	o	o

Not a simple A–Z code: Digraphs like TH, SH, and NG have their own signs. The Moria and Erebor modes can alter the interpretation of individual runes. For unfamiliar inscriptions, identify the context before choosing a mode.

Rune-chart image: “Angerthas mit Buchstaben” by Lómelinde, derived from J a1’s Cirth chart, CC BY-SA/GFDL (original attribution and license details are available on Wikimedia Commons).

← Back to all code tables

Certh no.	Daeron	Moria	Erebor
1	p	p	p
2	b	b	b
3	f	f	f
4	v	v	v
5	hw	hw	hw
6	m	m	m
8	t	t	t
9	d	d	d
10	th	th	th
11	dh	dh	dh
12	n	n	n
13	ch	ch	ch
14	j	j	j
15	sh	sh	sh
16	zh	—	zh
17	nj	z	ks
18	k	k	k
19	g	g	g
20	kh	kh	kh
21	gh	gh	gh
22	ŋ	ŋ	ŋ
29	r	r	g
31	l	l	l
33	ng	nd	nd
34	s	s	s
36	z	z	z
39	i	i	i
42	u	u	u
44	w	w	w
46	e	e	e
48	a	a	a
50	o	o	o

Certh no.	Daeron	Moria	Erebor
1	p	p	p
2	b	b	b
3	f	f	f
4	v	v	v
5	hw	hw	hw
6	m	m	m
8	t	t	t
9	d	d	d
10	th	th	th
11	dh	dh	dh
12	n	n	n
13	ch	ch	ch
14	j	j	j
15	sh	sh	sh
16	zh	—	zh
17	nj	z	ks
18	k	k	k
19	g	g	g
20	kh	kh	kh
21	gh	gh	gh
22	ŋ	ŋ	ŋ
29	r	r	g
31	l	l	l
33	ng	nd	nd
34	s	s	s
36	z	z	z
39	i	i	i
42	u	u	u
44	w	w	w
46	e	e	e
48	a	a	a
50	o	o	o

Certh no.	Daeron	Moria	Erebor
1	p	p	p
2	b	b	b
3	f	f	f
4	v	v	v
5	hw	hw	hw
6	m	m	m
8	t	t	t
9	d	d	d
10	th	th	th
11	dh	dh	dh
12	n	n	n
13	ch	ch	ch
14	j	j	j
15	sh	sh	sh
16	zh	—	zh
17	nj	z	ks
18	k	k	k
19	g	g	g
20	kh	kh	kh
21	gh	gh	gh
22	ŋ	ŋ	ŋ
29	r	r	g
31	l	l	l
33	ng	nd	nd
34	s	s	s
36	z	z	z
39	i	i	i
42	u	u	u
44	w	w	w
46	e	e	e
48	a	a	a
50	o	o	o