The Rune Poems

Three medieval poems describe the runes one by one, each stanza beginning with a rune and playing on its name. They are the closest thing we have to what the runes’ names meant to the people who used them, though all three were written down centuries after the Elder Futhark was in use. They are given here complete, in Bruce Dickins’s 1915 translation, which is in the public domain. A question mark in brackets is Dickins’s own: it marks a name whose meaning he could not settle.

The Old English Rune Poem

29 stanzas on the English futhorc. The only manuscript burned in 1731; the text survives because it was printed in 1705. The poem itself is probably older than the reign of King Alfred. The last five stanzas describe runes the English added to the original 24. Later tradition

• ᚠFeoh (wealth) is a comfort to all men; yet must every man bestow it freely, if he wish to gain honour in the sight of the Lord.
• ᚢUr (the aurochs) is proud and has great horns; it is a very savage beast and fights with its horns; a great ranger of the moors, it is a creature of mettle.
• ᚦÞorn (the thorn) is exceedingly sharp, an evil thing for any knight to touch, uncommonly severe on all who sit among them.
• ᚩOs (?) is the source of all language, a pillar of wisdom and a comfort to wise men, a blessing and a joy to every knight.
• ᚱRad (?) seems easy to every warrior while he is indoors and very courageous to him who traverses the high-roads on the back of a stout horse.
• ᚳCen (the torch) is known to every living man by its pale, bright flame; it always burns where princes sit within.
• ᚷGyfu (generosity) brings credit and honour, which support one's dignity; it furnishes help and subsistence to all broken men who are devoid of aught else.
• ᚹWenne (bliss) he enjoys who knows not suffering, sorrow nor anxiety, and has prosperity and happiness and a good enough house.
• ᚻHægl (hail) is the whitest of grain; it is whirled from the vault of heaven and is tossed about by gusts of wind and then it melts into water.
• ᚾNyd (trouble) is oppressive to the heart; yet often it proves a source of help and salvation to the children of men, to everyone who heeds it betimes.
• ᛁIs (ice) is very cold and immeasurably slippery; it glistens as clear as glass and most like to gems; it is a floor wrought by the frost, fair to look upon.
• ᛄGer (summer) is a joy to men, when God, the holy King of Heaven, suffers the earth to bring forth shining fruits for rich and poor alike.
• ᛇEoh (the yew) is a tree with rough bark, hard and fast in the earth, supported by its roots, a guardian of flame and a joy upon an estate.
• ᛈPeorð (the chessman?) is a source of recreation and amusement to the great, where warriors sit blithely together in the banqueting-hall.
• ᛉEolh-secg (the ?-sedge) is mostly to be found in a marsh; it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound, covering with blood every warrior who touches it.
• ᛋSigel (the sun) is ever a joy to seafarers (or, in the hopes of seafarers) when they journey away over the fishes' bath, until the courser of the deep bears them to land.
• ᛏTir (?) is a (guiding) star; well does it keep faith with princes; it is ever on its course over the mists of night and never fails.
• ᛒBeorc (the poplar) bears no fruit; yet without seed it brings forth suckers, for it is generated from its leaves. Splendid are its branches and gloriously adorned its lofty crown which reaches to the skies.
• ᛖEh (the horse) is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors, a steed in the pride of its hoofs, when rich men on horseback bandy words about it; and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless.
• ᛗMan (the joyous (man)) is dear to his kinsmen; yet every man is doomed to fail his fellow, since the Lord by his decree will commit the vile carrion to the earth.
• ᛚLagu (the ocean) seems interminable to men, if they venture on the rolling bark and the waves of the sea terrify them and the courser of the deep heed not its bridle.
• ᛝIng was first seen by men among the East-Danes, till, followed by his car, he departed eastwards over the waves. So the Heardingas named the hero.
• ᛟEþel (an estate) is very dear to every man, if he can enjoy there in his house whatever is right and proper in constant prosperity.
• ᛞDæg (day) the glorious light of the Creator, is sent by the Lord; it is beloved of men, a source of hope and happiness to rich and poor, and of service to all.
• ᚪAc (the oak) fattens the flesh (of swine) for the children of men. Often it traverses the gannet's bath, and the ocean proves whether the oak keeps faith in honourable fashion.
• ᚫÆsc (the ash) is exceedingly high and precious to men. With its sturdy trunk it offers a stubborn resistance, though attacked by many a man.
• ᚣYr (?) is a source of joy and honour to every prince and knight; it looks well on a horse and is a reliable equipment for a journey.
• ᛡIar (?) is a river fish and yet it always feeds on land; it has a fair abode encompassed by water, where it lives in happiness.
• ᛠEar (the grave?) is horrible to every knight, when the corpse quickly begins to cool and is laid in the bosom of the dark earth. Prosperity declines, happiness passes away and covenants are broken.

The Old Norwegian Rune Poem

16 couplets on the Viking-Age row, composed in Norway around the end of the 1200s. Each couplet pairs a line about the rune with an unrelated second line. Later tradition

• ᚠFé. Wealth is a source of discord among kinsmen; the wolf lives in the forest.
• ᚢÚr. Dross comes from bad iron; the reindeer often races over the frozen snow.
• ᚦÞurs. Giant causes anguish to women; misfortune makes few men cheerful.
• ᚬÓss. Estuary is the way of most journeys; but a scabbard is of swords.
• ᚱReið. Riding is said to be the worst thing for horses; Reginn forged the finest sword.
• ᚴKaun. Ulcer is fatal to children; death makes a corpse pale.
• ᚼHagall. Hail is the coldest of grain; Christ created the world of old.
• ᚾNauðr. Constraint gives scant choice; a naked man is chilled by the frost.
• ᛁÍss. Ice we call the broad bridge; the blind man must be led.
• ᛅÁr. Plenty is a boon to men; I say that Frothi was generous.
• ᛋSól. Sun is the light of the world; I bow to the divine decree.
• ᛏTýr. Tyr is a one-handed god; often has the smith to blow.
• ᛒBjarkan. Birch has the greenest leaves of any shrub; Loki was fortunate in his deceit.
• ᛘMaðr. Man is an augmentation of the dust; great is the claw of the hawk.
• ᛚLǫgr. A waterfall is a River which falls from a mountain-side; but ornaments are of gold.
• ᛦÝr. Yew is the greenest of trees in winter; it is wont to crackle when it burns.

The Old Icelandic Rune Poem

16 stanzas, each made of three kennings (poetic riddles), preserved in manuscripts from the 1400s on. One manuscript adds a Latin word to each stanza. Three of those glosses are planets, the only medieval planetary correspondences for runes that we know of. Later tradition

• ᚠFé = source of discord among kinsmen and fire of the sea and path of the serpent. Latin gloss: aurum
• ᚢÚr = lamentation of the clouds and ruin of the hay-harvest and abomination of the shepherd. Latin gloss: imber
• ᚦÞurs = torture of women and cliff-dweller and husband of a giantess. Latin gloss: Saturnus
• ᚬÓss = aged Gautr and prince of Asgard and lord of Valhalla. Latin gloss: Jupiter
• ᚱReið = joy of the horseman and speedy journey and toil of the steed. Latin gloss: iter
• ᚴKaun = disease fatal to children and painful spot and abode of mortification. Latin gloss: flagella
• ᚼHagall = cold grain and shower of sleet and sickness of serpents. Latin gloss: grando
• ᚾNauð = grief of the bond-maid and state of oppression and toilsome work. Latin gloss: opera
• ᛁÍss = bark of rivers and roof of the wave and destruction of the doomed. Latin gloss: glacies
• ᛅÁr = boon to men and good summer and thriving crops. Latin gloss: annus
• ᛋSól = shield of the clouds and shining ray and destroyer of ice. Latin gloss: rota
• ᛏTýr = god with one hand and leavings of the wolf and prince of temples. Latin gloss: Mars
• ᛒBjarkan = leafy twig and little tree and fresh young shrub. Latin gloss: abies
• ᛘMaðr = delight of man and augmentation of the earth and adorner of ships. Latin gloss: homo
• ᛚLǫgr = eddying stream and broad geysir and land of the fish. Latin gloss: lacus
• ᛦÝr = bent bow and brittle iron and giant of the arrow. Latin gloss: arcus

Sources for this page

• Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems (1915), pp. 12 to 33

— Evander Blackwood