Ansuz (rune)
Name | Proto-Germanic | Old English | Old Norse | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
*Ansuz | Ōs | Āc | Æsc | Óss | ||
"god" | "god" | "oak" | "ash" | "god" | ||
Shape | Elder Futhark | Futhorc | Younger Futhark | |||
Unicode | ᚨ U+16A8 | ᚩ U+16A9 | ᚪ U+16AA | ᚫ U+16AB | ᚬ U+16AC | ᚭ U+16AD |
Transliteration | a | o | a | æ | ą | |
Transcription | a | o | a | æ | ą, o | |
IPA | [a(ː)] | [o(ː)] | [ɑ(ː)] | [æ(ː)] | [ɑ̃], [o(ː)] | |
Position in rune-row | 4 | 4 | 25 | 26 | 4 |
Ansuz is the conventional name given to the a-rune of the Elder Futhark, ᚨ. The name is based on Proto-Germanic *ansuz, denoting a deity belonging to the principal pantheon in Germanic paganism.
The shape of the rune is likely from Neo-Etruscan a (), like Latin A ultimately from Phoenician aleph.
Name
In the Norwegian rune poem, óss is given a meaning of "estuary" while in the Anglo-Saxon one, ōs ᚩ takes the Latin meaning of "mouth". The Younger Futhark rune is transliterated as ą to distinguish it from the new ár rune (ᛅ), which continues the jēran rune after loss of prevocalic *j- in Proto-Norse *jár (Old Saxon jār).
Since the name of a is attested in the Gothic alphabet as ahsa or aza, the common Germanic name of the rune may thus either have been *ansuz "god", or *ahsam "ear (of wheat)".
Development in Anglo-Saxon runes
The Anglo-Saxon futhorc split the Elder Futhark a rune into three independent runes due to the development of the vowel system in Anglo-Frisian. These three runes are ōs ᚩ (transliterated o), āc "oak" ᚪ (transliterated a), and æsc ᚫ "ash" (transliterated æ).
Development in Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark corresponding to the Elder Futhark ansuz rune is ᚬ, called óss. It is transliterated as ą. This represented the phoneme /ɑ̃/, and sometimes /æ/ (also written ᛅ) and /o/ (also written ᚢ). The variant grapheme ᚯ became independent as representing the phoneme /ø/ during the 11th to 14th centuries.
Rune poems
It is mentioned in all three rune poems:
Rune Poem:[1] | English Translation: |
Old Norwegian |
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Old Icelandic |
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Old English |
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Notes:
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References
- ^ Original poems and translation from the Rune Poem Page Archived 1999-05-01 at the Wayback Machine.
- v
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Elder Futhark | ᚠ | ᚢ | ᚦ | ᚨ | ᚱ | ᚲ | ᚷ | ᚹ | ᚺ | ᚾ | ᛁ | ᛃ | ᛇ | ᛈ | ᛉ | ᛊ | ᛏ | ᛒ | ᛖ | ᛗ | ᛚ | ᛜ | ᛟ (o) | ᛞ | |||||||||||||
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Old English Futhorc | ᚠ | ᚢ | ᚦ | ᚩ (o) | ᚱ | ᚳ (c) | ᚷ (ȝ) | ᚹ | ᚻ | ᚾ | ᛁ | ᛄ | ᛇ | ᛈ | ᛢ | ᛉ (x) | ᛋ | ᛏ | ᛒ | ᛖ | ᛗ | ᛚ | ᛝ | ᛟ | ᛞ | ᚪ | ᚫ | ᚣ | ᛡ | ᛠ | ᛣ | ᛤ | ᛥ | ᚸ | |||
Younger Futhark | ᚠ | ᚢ | ᚦ | ᚬ (ą) | ᚱ | ᚴ | ᚼ | ᚾ | ᛁ | ᛦ (ʀ) | ᛋ | ᛏ | ᛒ | ᛘ | ᛚ | ᛅ | |||||||||||||||||||||
Medieval | ᚠ | ᚡ | ᚢ | ᚦ | ᚧ | ᚮ | ᚱ | ᚴ | ᚵ | ᚼ | ᚿ ᛀ | ᛁ | ᛂ | ᛕ ᛔ | ᛩ | ᛪ (x) | ᛌ | ᛐ | ᛒ | ᛘ | ᛚ ᛛ | ᚶ | ᚯ | ᛑ | ᛆ | ᛅ | ᚤ ᛦ | ||||||||||
Transliteration | f | v | u | þ | ð | a | r | k | ġ | w | h | n | i | j | ï | p | q | z | s | t | b | e | m | l | ŋ | œ | d | a | æ | y | io | ea | k | k̄ | st | g |
- See also
- Runic inscriptions interactive map
- Dalecarlian runes
- Runic inscriptions
- Rune Poems
- Runestones
- Runic magic
- Modern runic writing
- Pseudo-runes