Rune poem

Rune poems are poems that list the letters of runic alphabets while providing an explanatory poetic stanza for each letter. Four different poems from before the mid-20th century have been preserved: the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, the Norwegian Rune Poem, the Icelandic Rune Poem and the Swedish Rune Poem.

The Icelandic and Norwegian poems list 16 Younger Futhark runes, while the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem lists 29 Anglo-Saxon runes. Each poem differs in poetic verse, but they contain numerous parallels between one another. Further, the poems provide references to figures from Norse and Anglo-Saxon paganism, the latter included alongside Christian references. A list of rune names is also recorded in the Abecedarium Nordmannicum, a 9th-century manuscript, but whether this can be called a poem or not is a matter of some debate.

The rune poems have been theorized as having been mnemonic devices that allowed the user to remember the order and names of each letter of the alphabet and may have been a catalog of important cultural information, memorably arranged; comparable with the Old English sayings, Gnomic poetry, and Old Norse poetry of wisdom and learning.

Rune poems

English

Main article: Old English rune poem

The Old English Rune Poem as recorded was likely composed in the 7th century and was preserved in the 10th-century manuscript Cotton Otho B.x, fol. 165a – 165b, housed at the Cotton library in London, England. In 1731, the manuscript was lost with numerous other manuscripts in a fire at the Cotton library. However, the poem had been copied by George Hickes in 1705 and his copy has formed the basis of all later editions of the poems.

George Hickes' record of the poem may deviate from the original manuscript. Hickes recorded the poem in prose, divided the prose into 29 stanzas, and placed a copper plate engraved with runic characters on the left-hand margin so that each rune stands immediately in front of the stanza where it belongs. For five of the runes (wen, hægl, nyd, eoh, and Ing) Hickes gives variant forms and two more runes are given at the foot of the column; cweorð and an unnamed rune (calc) which are not handled in the poem itself. A second copper plate appears across the foot of the page and contains two more runes: stan and gar.

Van Kirk Dobbie states that this apparatus is not likely to have been present in the original text of the Cotton manuscript and states that it's possible that the original Anglo-Saxon rune poem manuscript would have appeared similar in arrangement of runes and texts to that of the Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems.

Norwegian

The Norwegian Rune Poem was preserved in a 17th-century copy of a destroyed 13th-century manuscript. The Norwegian Rune Poem is preserved in skaldic metre, featuring the first line exhibiting a "(rune name)(copula) X" pattern, followed by a second rhyming line providing information somehow relating to its subject.

Icelandic

The Icelandic Rune Poem is recorded in four Arnamagnæan manuscripts, the oldest of the four dating from the late 15th century. The Icelandic Rune Poem has been called the most systemized of the rune poems (including the Abecedarium Nordmannicum) and has been compared to the ljóðaháttr verse form.

The Icelandic rune poem is shown below with English translation side-by-side from Dickins:

#	rune	name	Old Icelandic	English
1	ᚠ	Fé	Fé er frænda róg   ok flæðar viti   ok grafseiðs gata	Wealth = source of discord among kinsmen   and fire of the sea   and path of the serpent.
2	ᚢ	Úr	Úr er skýja grátr   ok skára þverrir   ok hirðis hatr.	Shower = lamentation of the clouds   and ruin of the hay-harvest   and abomination of the shepherd.
3	ᚦ	Þurs	Þurs er kvenna kvöl   ok kletta búi   ok varðrúnar verr.	Giant = torture of women   and cliff-dweller   and husband of a giantess.
4	ᚬ	Óss	Óss er aldingautr   ok ásgarðs jöfurr,   ok valhallar vísi.	God = aged Gautr   and prince of Ásgarðr   and lord of Valhalla.
5	ᚱ	Reið	Reið er sitjandi sæla   ok snúðig ferð   ok jórs erfiði.	Riding = joy of the horsemen   and speedy journey   and toil of the steed.
6	ᚴ	Kaun	Kaun er barna böl   ok bardaga [för]   ok holdfúa hús.	Ulcer = disease fatal to children   and painful spot   and abode of mortification.
7	ᚼ	Hagall	Hagall er kaldakorn   ok krapadrífa   ok snáka sótt.	Hail = cold grain   and shower of sleet   and sickness of serpents.
8	ᚾ	Nauð	Nauð er Þýjar þrá   ok þungr kostr   ok vássamlig verk.	Constraint = grief of the bond-maid   and state of oppression   and toilsome work.
9	ᛁ	Íss	Íss er árbörkr   ok unnar þak   ok feigra manna fár.	Ice = bark of rivers   and roof of the wave   and destruction of the doomed.
10	ᛅ	Ár	Ár er gumna góði   ok gott sumar   algróinn akr.	Plenty = boon to men   and good summer   and thriving crops.
11	ᛋ	Sól	Sól er skýja skjöldr   ok skínandi röðull   ok ísa aldrtregi.	Sun = shield of the clouds   and shining ray   and destroyer of ice.
12	ᛏ	Týr	Týr er einhendr áss   ok ulfs leifar   ok hofa hilmir.	Týr = god with one hand   and leavings of the wolf   and prince of temples.
13	ᛒ	Bjarkan	Bjarkan er laufgat lim   ok lítit tré   ok ungsamligr viðr.	Birch = leafy twig   and little tree   and fresh young shrub.
14	ᛘ	Maðr	Maðr er manns gaman   ok moldar auki   ok skipa skreytir.	Man = delight of man   and augmentation of the earth   and adorner of ships.
15	ᛚ	Lögr	Lögr er vellanda vatn   ok viðr ketill   ok glömmungr grund.	Water = eddying stream   and broad geysir   and land of the fish.
16	ᛦ	Ýr	Ýr er bendr bogi   ok brotgjarnt járn   ok fífu fárbauti.	Yew = bent bow   and brittle iron   and giant of the arrow.

Swedish

The Old Swedish rune poem is possibly the youngest of the four, first being recorded in a letter in the year 1600, but not published until 1908. The text may be corrupt and it has received relatively little attention from runologists. The runes are in a different order, and a couple are missing:

#	rune	name	Old Swedish	English
1	ᚠ	Faͤ	Faͤ frande ro	Cattle, kinsmen's calm
2	ᚢ	Ŭr	Ŭr vaͤder vaͤrst	Shower, worst weather
3	ᚦ	Tors	Tors qŭinne qŭāl	Giant, woman's pain
4	ᚬ	Ōs	Ōs i hvario å	River-mouth in every river
5	ᚱ	Ridher	Ridher haͤstespraͤng	Rider, horse's toil
6	ᚴ	Koͤn	Koͤn i koͤte vaͤrst	Ulcer (?), worst in the flesh
7	ᚼ	Hagaller	Hagaller i bo baͤst	Hail, best in home
8	ᚾ	Noͤdh	Noͤdh aͤr enda kŭst	Need is only choice
9	ᛁ	Īs	Īs bro bredast	Ice, broadest bridge
10	ᛏ	Tȳr	Tȳr i vatŭm ledast / Tȳra vaͤtten ledast	Tyr [a name], worst in water (or worst of wights)
11	ᛅ	År	År i bladhe vidast	(Good) year, of leaf widest
12	ᛒ	Bioͤrka	bioͤrkahult groͤnast	Birch-wood greenest
13	ᛋ	Sōl	sōl i himbla hoͤgast	Sun, in sky highest
14	ᛚ	Lagh	Lagh aͤr Landsens aͤra	Law is land's honour

The text was originally sent to Bonaventura Vulcanius by a Swedish student, who claimed to have ”learned it from the old rustics” (a senibus rusticis didici). It was first published in 1908 by Philipp Christiaan Molhuysen, using roughly the above orthography. A modern edition was published in 1987.

Abecedarium Nordmannicum

Main article: Abecedarium Nordmannicum

Recorded in the 9th century, the Abecedarium Nordmannicum is the earliest known catalog of Norse rune names, though it does not contain definitions, is partly in Continental Germanic and also contains an amount of distinctive Anglo-Saxon rune types. The text is recorded in Codex Sangallensis 878, kept in the St. Gallen abbey, and may originate from Fulda, Germany.

The Rune Poem Puzzle from the Old Bø Church

The Runic Puzzle from Bø

In the Old Bø Church in Telemark a 12th century runic inscription is preserved which uses kennings for runes very similar to the rune poems. Reading the lines from the bottom up and resolving the kennings one gets the name of the woman with whom the rune-carver was in love.

Original runes	Normalization	Translation
ᛋᚢᛅᚠᚿᛒᛆᚿᛆᚱᛘᛂᚱ ᛬ ᛌᚮᛏᛂᚱᛒᚿᛆ ᚠᛁᚮᚿᛌᚠᛁᚿᚴᛆᛏᛆ ᛬ ᚠᛁᛆᛚᛌᛁᛒᚢᛁ ᚼᛂᛋᛏᛅᚱᚠᛆᚦᛁ ᛬ ᚯᚢᚴᚼᚢᚼᛁᛌᚼᚢᛁᛏᛁ ᛬ ᚦᚱᛚᛌᚢᚿᛌᛅᛚᛆ ᛬ ᚦᛏᛌᚴᛚᚢᚱᛆᚦᛆ	Svefn bannar mér, sótt er barna, fjón svínkanda, fjalls íbúi, hests ærfaði, auk høys víti, þræls vansæla. Þat skulu ráða!	What prevents me from sleeping is sickness of children, hatred of workmen, dweller in the mountain, toil of the horse and harm of the hay, misfortune of the slave. This must be interpreted!

Resolving the kennings the reader gets the following runes:

• ᚴ k (kaun ‘boil, ulcer’ = sickness of children)
• ᚢ u (úrr ‘drizzle’ = hatred of workmen)
• ᚦ þ (þurs ‘troll’ = dweller in the mountain)
• ᚱ r (reið ‘chariot, wagon’ = toil of the horse)
• ᚢ u (= harm of the hay)
• ᚿ n (nauðr ‘need, famine’ = misfortune of the slave)

Together they spell out the name Gudrun.

See also

• Bríatharogam
• Gothic alphabet
• List of runestones
• Runic magic
• Apple Pie ABC
• Alphabet song

References

• Acker, Paul (1998). Revising Oral Theory: Formulaic Composition in Old English and Old Icelandic Verse. Routledge. ISBN 0-8153-3102-9
• Dickins, Bruce (1915). Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples. Cambridge University Press. (Internet Archive)
• Lapidge, Michael (Editor) (2007). Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-03843-X
• Page, Raymond Ian (1999). An Introduction to English Runes. Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-946-X
• Senra Silva, Inmaculada (1 January 2006). "A note on the meaning of os in the Old English Rune Poem". Epos: Revista de filología (22): 393. doi:10.5944/epos.22.2006.10523 (inactive 12 July 2025). ISSN 2255-3495.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
• Senra Silva, Inmaculada (2010). "The Names of the u-Rune". Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies. 1: 109–122. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
• Van Kirk Dobbie, Elliott (1942). The Anglo-Saxon Minor Poems. Columbia University Press ISBN 0-231-08770-5
• The Rune Poem (Old English), ed. and tr. T.A. Shippey, Poems of Wisdom and Learning in Old English. Cambridge, 1976: 80–5.
• Foys, Martin et al. (eds.) Old English Poetry in Facsimile Project, (Madison, WI: Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture, 2019-). Online edition of the Old English Rune Poem, annotated and linked to digital facsimile of its first transcription, with a modern translation.

External links

• Rune Poems from "Runic and Heroic Poems" by Bruce Dickins