Abecedarium Nordmannicum

It is probably based on a Danish original, maybe imported from Haithabu to Lower Germany, and adapted to the idiom of its recipients.

The background of the Carolingian notation of Norse runes is that of intensified contacts between the Frankish Empire and Denmark which necessitated interpreters for economic and political exchanges.

There are interlineal glosses for some of the runes specific to the Younger Futhark, giving their Anglo-Saxon phonetic equivalents: ᚼ hagal is glossed with ᚻ haegl, ᛅ ar with ᚪ ac, ᛙ man with ᛗ man, and ᛦ yr with ᚣ yr.

The content of the poem are the names of the runes, connected by a few additional alliterating words as mnemonical aids.

For the r, m and l runes, the Anglo-Saxon names are given rather than the Scandinavian ones, as rat, man and lagu for reidh, madr and logr, respectively.