Runes

thumb|Wynn in the Hildebrandslied manuscript (830s): the text reads ƿiges ƿarne. thumb|Capital wynn appears twice in this 10th century inscription in Breamore: her sƿutelað seo gecƿydrædnes ðe (Here is manifested the Word to thee). Wynn or wyn (; also spelled wen, win, ƿynn, ƿyn, ƿen, and ƿin), is a letter of the Old English alphabet, where it is used to represent the sound . It was a continued use of the Anglo-Frisian Futhorc runes. Futhorc was the native alphabet of Old English before the Latin alphabet was adopted, and it was a sibling alphabet to the Younger Futhark alphabet that Old Norse

' is a rune that is transliterated as o and œ in the Elder Futhark and the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc writing systems respectively. It is known as ("inheritance, home, native land") in Old English, from which hypothetical Proto-Germanic names such as ' have been reconstructed.

Fehu is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name for the rune '''''' (; ), found as the first rune in all futharks (runic alphabets starting with F, U, Þ, Ą, R, K), i.e. the Germanic Elder Futhark, the Anglo-Frisian Futhark and the Norse Younger Futhark, with continued use in the later medieval runes, early modern runes and Dalecarlian runes.

rune

right|300px|thumb|Various forms of the haglaz rune in the Elder Futhark Haglaz or *Hagalaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the h-rune , meaning "hail" (the precipitation).

The rune is called Thurs (Old Norse Þurs, a type of entity, from a reconstructed Common Germanic ') in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems. In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem it is called thorn', whence the name of the letter þ derived. It is transliterated as þ, and has the sound value of a voiceless dental fricative (the English sound of th as in thing'').

rune

Gyfu is the name for the g-rune in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, meaning 'gift' or 'generosity':

thumb|upright=1.2|"Yngvi-Freyr builds the Temple at Uppsala|Uppsala temple" (1830) by Hugo Hamilton.

right|thumb|300px|The evolution of the rune in the elder futhark during the centuries The k-rune (Younger Futhark , Anglo-Saxon futhorc ) is called Kaun in both the Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems, meaning "ulcer". The reconstructed Proto-Germanic name is *Kauną. It is also known as Kenaz ("torch"), based on its Anglo-Saxon name.

Raidō "ride" (by extension "journey, wagon etc") is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the r- rune of the Elder Futhark . The name is attested for the same rune in all three rune poems, Old Norwegian Ræið Icelandic Reið, Anglo-Saxon Rad, as well as for the corresponding letter of the Gothic alphabet 𐍂 r, called raida. The shape of the rune may be directly derived from Latin R.

runic alphabet letter

Algiz (also Elhaz) is the name conventionally given to the "z-rune" of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet. Its transliteration is z, understood as a phoneme of the Proto-Germanic language, the terminal *z continuing Proto-Indo-European terminal *s via Verner's law.

The d rune (ᛞ) is called dæg "day" in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem. The corresponding letter of the Gothic alphabet 𐌳 d is called dags. This rune is also part of the Elder Futhark, with a reconstructed Proto-Germanic name *dagaz.

Isaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the i-rune , meaning "ice". In the Younger Futhark, it is called íss in Old Norse. As a rune of the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, it is called is.

Jera (also Jeran, Jeraz, Yera) is the conventional name of the j-rune of the Elder Futhark, from a reconstructed Common Germanic stem meaning "harvest, (good) year".

Eiwaz or Eihaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the rune , coming from a word for "yew". Two variants of the word are reconstructed for Proto-Germanic, (, from Proto-Indo-European ), continued in Old English as (also ), and (, from Proto-Indo-European ), continued in Old English as (whence English yew). The latter is possibly an early loan from the Celtic, compare Gaulish , Breton , Welsh , Old Irish . The common spelling of the rune's name, "Eihwaz", combines the two variants; strictly based on the Old English evidence, a spelling "Eihaz" would be more proper.

Naudiz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the n-rune , meaning "need, distress". In the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, it is continued as nyd, in the Younger Futhark as , Icelandic naud and Old Norse nauðr. The corresponding Gothic letter is 𐌽 n, named nauþs.

' or ' is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the l-rune , meaning "water" or "lake" and meaning "leek". In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, it is called "ocean". In the Younger Futhark, the rune is called "waterfall" in Icelandic and "water" in Norse.

'''' is the rune denoting the sound p'' (voiceless bilabial stop) in the Elder Futhark runic alphabet. It does not appear in the Younger Futhark. It is named peorð in the Anglo-Saxon rune-poem and glossed as follows: " Peorð is always playing and laughter / proud in middle, there warriors sit / in beer-hall remain united."

'''' is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the Elder Futhark e'' rune , meaning "horse" (cognate to Latin , Gaulish , Tocharian B , Sanskrit , Avestan and Old Irish ). In the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, it is continued as (properly , but spelled without the diphthong to avoid confusion with "yew").

runic alphabet letter

Berkanan is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the b rune , meaning "birch". In the Younger Futhark it is called Bjarkan in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems. In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem it is called beorc ("birch" or "poplar"). The corresponding Gothic letter is 𐌱 b, named bairkan.

100px|thumb|right|Two early forms of the /m/ rune of the Younger Futhark. '''''' is the conventional name of the /m/ rune of the Elder Futhark. It is derived from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic (or Common Germanic) word for 'man', .

literary form with examples in Old English, Old Norse, and Icelandic

rune of the Anglo-Saxon futhorc