Typing Old English Characters in MS Windows

The most important thing to know is that you must be using a font that supports the particular character, like Junicode, in order to use that character.

Typing the Characters

Keyboard Remapping

You can download these Old English and Old Norse keyboard maps for Windows and Mac: They were created by Douglas Ryan VanBenthuysen for the Medieval Graduate Students in English website (megse.unm.edu) at the University of New Mexico. If you do any significant amount of typing in Old English or Old Norse, I highly recommend using these keyboards.

MS Windows Hotkeys

Hold down the Alt key and type the numbers on the numeric keypad. (It will not work for the numbers at the top of the keyboard.) This works if your input language is set to Windows Latin 1, which is the default for US installations of Windows.

MS Word Unicode Entry

With several programs, including MS Word and Wordpad, you can simply type the alphanumeric Unicode value (e.g., 00FE for þ; this is not case sensitive) and after typing hold down Alt+X.

MS Character Map

This is more cumbersome, but graphically shows you all the available characters on your system organized by font. In Windows Vista it can be found under Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools. It may be in a slightly different location in other versions of Windows. If you find yourself using this feature often, it may be helpful to save a shortcut to your desktop or taskbar.

HTML Codes

If you are working on the web or in another HTML-driven format, you can use the HTML codes to insert the characters into your text. But not only do you have to have an appropriate font installed, so does so does the person viewing the page on their browser. Therefore this is of limited utility for the more esoteric characters.

Other Resources

Fileformat.info

This website details all the Unicode specifications in an easily searchable format:

Junicode Font

Junicode is an open-source font for medievalists developed by Peter Baker of the University of Virginia. It includes all the Old English letters, plus runes, IPA symbols, and more. You can download it from

Commonly Supported Old English Characters (+ Yogh)

As a general rule, you are safe using these characters. They are supported by the most commonly used fonts that come packaged with Windows (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri) and will be rendered and displayed on most systems without installing any special fonts.

If you do not see anything in the Letter column, then you do not have a font installed that supports that character. The Image column has jpg images, so you will see these regardless of your system’s configuration. Note that there will be minor differences in appearance between the image of the character and how it appears in any particular font.

The Keyboard Hotkeys are for the University of New Mexico’s Old English keyboard map and will only work if that is installed and currently active.

Image / Letter / Name / Case / Unicode Value / MS Windows Hotkey / HTML Code / Keyboard Hotkey
/ æ / ash / lower / U+00E6 / Alt+0230 / æ / ‘1
/ Æ / ash / upper / U+00C6 / Alt+0198 / Æ / ‘!
/ þ / thorn / lower / U+00FE / Alt+0254 / þ / ‘t
/ Þ / thorn / upper / U+00DE / Alt+0222 / Þ / ‘T
/ ð / eth / lower / U+00F0 / Alt+0240 / ð / ‘h
/ Ð / eth / upper / U+00D0 / Alt+0208 / Ð / ‘H
/ ȝ / yogh / lower / U+021D / Alt+0541 / ȝ / ‘z
/ Ȝ / yogh / upper / U+021C / Alt+0540 / Ȝ / ‘Z
/ ƿ / wynn / lower / U+01BF / Alt+447 / ƿ / ‘w
/ Ƿ / Wynn / upper / U+01F7 / Alt+503 / Ƿ / ‘W
/ ᵹ / insular g / lower / U+1D79 / Alt+7545 / ᵹ / --
/ œ / ethel (oe) / lower / U+0153 / Alt+0156 / œ / ‘0 (zero)
/ Œ / ethel (OE) / upper / U+0152 / Alt+0140 / Œ / ‘)
/ · / middle dot
(punctus) / n/a / U+00B7 / Alt+0183 / · / --

Less Well SupportedOld English Characters

These characters are generally not supported in the fonts that come packaged with Windows. You will probably need Junicode to use these characters. As such, their use is problematic if you are going to give the document to someone else. Some of these are part of the Unicode standard, but not generally supported; others are not Unicode, but are unique to theJunicode font.

For the Junicode-only characters, you can still type in the code value as you would a Unicode value and Windows will recognize it and insert the appropriate character from the Junicode font. (Junicode’spunctus, while technically a distinct character, is essentially interchangeable with the Unicode standard middle dot.)

The Keyboard Hotkeys are for the University of New Mexico’s Old English keyboard map and will only work if that is installed and currently active.

Image / Character / Name / Code Value / Keyboard Hotkey
/ Ᵹ / insular g, upper case / U+A77D / --
/ ⁊ / tironian et / U+204A / ‘7
/  / punctus / F1F8 / --
/  / punctuselevatus / F161 / --
/  / punctusinterrogativus / F160 / --
/  / þæt / F149 / --

Characters with Diacritics

Diacritics are useful if you want to denote pronunciation in your text. These are all widely supported in the fonts that come packaged with Windows. Note that these are modern notations and not actually found in Old English manuscripts.

The Keyboard Hotkeys are for the University of New Mexico’s Old English keyboard map and will only work if that is installed and currently active.

Image / Letter / Name / Case / Unicode Value / MS Windows Hotkey / HTML Code / Keyboard Hotkey
/ ā / a with macron / lower / U+0101 / Alt+0257 / ā / ‘a
/ Ā / A with macron / upper / U+0100 / Alt+0256 / Ā / ‘A
/ ē / e with macron / lower / U+0113 / Alt+0275 / ē / ‘e
/ Ē / E with macron / upper / U+0112 / Alt+0274 / Ē / ‘E
/ ī / i with macron / lower / U+012B / Alt+0299 / ī / ‘i
/ Ī / I with macron / upper / U+012A / Alt+0298 / Ī / ‘I
/ ō / o with macron / lower / U+014D / Alt+0333 / ō / ‘o
/ Ō / O with macron / upper / U+014C / Alt+0332 / Ō / ‘O
/ ū / u with macron / lower / U+016B / Alt+363 / ū / ‘u
/ Ū / U with macron / upper / U+016A / Alt+362 / Ū / ‘U
/ ȳ / y with macron / lower / U+0233 / Alt+563 / ȳ / ‘y
/ Ȳ / Y with macron / upper / U+0232 / Alt+562 / Ȳ / ‘Y
/ ǣ / ash with macron / lower / U+01E3 / Alt+483 / ǣ / ‘2
/ Ǣ / Ash with macron / upper / U+01E2 / Alt+482 / Ǣ / ‘@
/ ċ / c with dot / lower / U+010B / Alt+267 / ċ / ‘c
/ Ċ / C with dot / upper / U+010A / Alt+266 / Ċ / ‘C
/ ġ / g with dot / lower / U+0121 / Alt+289 / ġ / ‘g
/ Ġ / G with dot / upper / U+0120 / Alt+288 / Ġ / ‘G

Runes

Unicode supports runic characters, although most of the fonts packaged with Microsoft do not. You’ll probably need Junicode if you’re typing runes. Use of HTML is not recommended.

Image / Letter / Name / Unicode Value / Romanization / HTML Code
/ ᚠ / fehu / U+16A0 / f / ᚠ
/ ᚢ / uruz / U+16A2 / u / ᚢ
/ ᚦ / Þurisaz / U+16A6 / þ / ᚦ
/ ᚨ / ansuz / U+16A8 / a / ᚨ
/ ᚱ / raido / U+16B1 / r / ᚱ
/ ᚲ / kaunan / U+16B2 / k / ᚲ
/ ᚷ / gebo / U+16B7 / g / ᚷ
/ ᚹ / wunjo / U+16B9 / w / ᚹ
/ ᚺ / haglaz / U+16BA / h / ᚺ
/ ᚾ / naudiz / U+16BE / n / ᚾ
/ ᛁ / isaz / U+16C1 / i / ᛁ
/ ᛃ / jeran / U+16C3 / j / ᛃ
/ ᛇ / iwaz / U+16C7 / i / ᛇ
/ ᛈ / perþo / U+16C8 / p / ᛈ
/ ᛉ / algiz / U+16C9 / z / ᛉ
/ ᛊ / sowilo / U+16CA / s / ᛊ
/ ᛏ / Tiwaz / U+16CF / t / ᛏ
/ ᛒ / berkanen / U+16D2 / b / ᛒ
/ ᛖ / ehwaz / U+16D6 / e / ᛖ
/ ᛗ / mannaz / U+16D7 / m / ᛗ
/ ᛚ / laukaz / U+16DA / l / ᛚ
/ ᛜ / Ingwaz / U+16DC / ng / ᛜ
/ ᛞ / dagaz / U+16DE / d / ᛞ
/ ᛟ / oþalon / U+16DF / o / ᛟ

Old English Keyboard Hotkeys

These are the hotkeys for University of New Mexico’s Old English keyboard map, Don’t hold down the apostrophe as you type the next letter, just do it sequentially.

Image / Letter / Hotkey
/ ‘ / ‘’
/ ā / ‘a
/ Ā / ‘A
/ æ / ‘1
/ Æ / ‘!
/ ǣ / ‘2
/ Ǣ / ‘@
/ ē / ‘e
/ Ē / ‘E
/ ī / ‘i
/ Ī / ‘I
/ ō / ‘o
/ Ō / ‘O
/ œ / ‘0 (zero)
/ Œ / ‘)
/ ū / ‘u
/ Ū / ‘U
/ ȳ / ‘y
/ Ȳ / ‘Y
/ þ / ‘t
/ Þ / ‘T
/ ð / ‘h
/ Ð / ‘H
/ ƿ / ‘w
/ Ƿ / ‘W
/ ġ / ‘g
/ Ġ / ‘G
/ ȝ / ‘z
/ Ȝ / ‘Z
/ ċ / ‘c
/ Ċ / ‘C
/ ך / ‘7
mark prev letter with macron / ā / ‘-
mark prev letter with acute accent / á / ‘=
mark prev letter with dieresis / ä / ‘;

Old Norse Keyboard Hotkeys

These are the hotkeys for University of New Mexico’s Old Norse keyboard map, Don’t hold down the apostrophe as you type the next letter, just do it sequentially.

(Some of the characters are Old English and not needed for Old Norse, but this keyboard is based on the Old English one and retains some of the Old English hotkeys.)

Image / Letter / Hotkey
/ ‘ / ‘’
/ á / ‘a
/ Á / ‘A
/ æ / ‘1
/ Æ / ‘!
/ é / ‘e
/ É / ‘E
/ ę / ‘3
/ Ę / ‘#
/ í / ‘i
/ Í / ‘I
/ ó / ‘o
/ Ó / ‘O
/ œ / ‘0
/ Œ / ‘)
/ ǫ / ‘9
/ Ǫ / ‘(
/ ø / ‘8
/ Ø / ‘*
/ ú / ‘u
/ Ú / ‘U
/ ý / ‘y
/ Ý / ‘Y
/ þ / ‘t
/ Þ / ‘T
/ ð / ‘h
/ Ð / ‘H
/ ƿ / ‘w
/ Ƿ / ‘W
/ ġ / ‘g
/ Ġ / ‘G
/ ȝ / ‘z
/ Ȝ / ‘Z
/ ċ / ‘c
/ Ċ / ‘C
/ ך / ‘7
mark prev letter with macron / ā / ‘-
mark prev letter with acute accent / á / ‘=
mark prev letter with dieresis / ä / ‘;