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
- t
- e
24-type Fuþark
(ca. AD to 9th c.)
28-type Fuþorc
(ca. 5th c. to 9th c.)
33-type Fuþorc
(ca. 8th c. to 12th c.)
16-type Fuþark
(ca. 8th c. to 11th c.)
Stung Fuþark
(ca. 11th c. to 13th c.)
Medieval Fuþark
(ca. 13th c. to 16th c.)
1st types | – | ᚠ | ᚢ | ᚦ | ᚮ | ᚱ | ᚴ | ᛬ | ᚼ | ᚿ | ᛁ | ᛆ | ᛋ | ᛬ | ᛐ | ᛒ | ᛘ | ᛚ | ᛦ | ||||||||||||||||||
f | u w | þ | o | r | k q | h x | n | i j | a | s | t | b | m | l | y | ||||||||||||||||||||||
2nd types | – | ᚡ | ᚤ | ᚧ | ᚰ | ᚵ | ᚾ | ᛂ | ᛅ | ᛍ | ᛑ | ᛔ | ᛛ | ᛨ | |||||||||||||||||||||||
v | y v | ð | ǫ å | g | n | e | ä | c z | d | p | ʟ | y | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
3rd types | – | ᚯ | ᚶ | ᛀ | ᛎ | ᛕ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ö | ng | ɴ | z c | ᴘ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4th types | – | ᛪ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
x | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alphabetical amalgamation | – | ᛆ | ᛒ | ᛍ ᛎ | ᛑ | ᚧ | ᛂ | ᚠ | ᚵ | ᚶ | ᚼ | ᛁ | ᛁ | ᚴ | ᛚ | ᛛ | ᛘ | ᚿ ᚾ | ᛀ | ᚮ | ᚰ | ᛔ | ᛕ | ᚴ | ᚱ | ᛋ | ᛐ | ᚦ | ᚢ | ᚡ ᚤ | ᚢ | ᚴᛋ ᛪ ᚼ | ᚤ ᛦ ᛨ | ᛎ ᛍ | ᚰ | ᛅ | ᚯ |
a | b | c | d | ð | e | f | g | ŋ | h | i | j | k | l | ʟ | m | n | ɴ | o | ǫ | p | ᴘ | q | r | s | t | þ | u | v | w | x | y | z | å | ä | ö |
Dalecarlian alphabet
(ca. 16th c. to 20th c.)
- See also
- Runic inscriptions interactive map
- Runic inscriptions
- Rune Poems
- Runestones
- Runic magic
- Modern runic writing
- Pseudo-runes
- Staveless runes