Rune poem

Rune poemsare poems that list the letters ofrunic Alpha betswhile providing an explanatory poetic stanza for each letter. Four different poems from before the mid-20th century have been preserved: theAnglo-Saxon Rune Poem,theNorwegian Rune Poem,theIcelandic Rune Poemand theSwedish Rune Poem.

The Icelandic and Norwegian poems list 16Younger Futharkrunes, while the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem lists 29Anglo-Saxon runes.Each poem differs in poetic verse, but they contain numerous parallels between one another. Further, the poems provide references to figures fromNorseandAnglo-Saxon paganism,the latter included alongsideChristianreferences. A list of rune names is also recorded in theAbecedarium 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 beenmnemonicdevices that allowed the user to remember the order and names of each letter of the Alpha bet and may have been a catalog of important cultural information, memorably arranged; comparable with the Old Englishsayings,Gnomic poetry,andOld Norse poetryof wisdom and learning.

Rune poems

English

Main article:Old English rune poem

TheOld EnglishRune Poem as recorded was likely composed in the 7th centuryand was preserved in the 10th-century manuscriptCotton OthoB.x, fol. 165a – 165b, housed at theCotton libraryinLondon,England.In 1731, the manuscript was lost with numerous other manuscripts in a fire at the Cotton library.However, the poem had been copied byGeorge Hickesin 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,andIng) Hickes gives variant forms and two more runes are given at the foot of the column;cweorðand 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:stanandgar.

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 inskaldicmetre, 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 fourArnamagnæan 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 theAbecedarium Nordmannicum) and has been compared to theljóðaháttrverse 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 = agedGautr and prince ofÁsgarðr and lord ofValhalla.
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 oftemples.
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 that was published in 1908. The text may be corrupt and it has received relatively little attention from runologists.

Abecedarium Nordmannicum

Main article:Abecedarium Nordmannicum

Recorded in the 9th century, theAbecedarium Nordmannicumis 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 inCodex Sangallensis 878,kept in theSt. Gallen abbey,and may originate fromFulda,Germany.

See also

• Bríatharogam
• Gothic Alpha bet
• 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.ISBN0-8153-3102-9
• 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.ISBN0-521-03843-X
• Page, Raymond Ian(1999).An Introduction to English Runes.Boydell Press.ISBN0-85115-946-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 18 April 2024).ISSN2255-3495.{{cite journal}}:CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of April 2024 (link)
• Senra Silva, Inmaculada (2010)."The Names of the u-Rune".Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies.1:109–122.Retrieved6 December2023.
• Van Kirk Dobbie, Elliott(1942).The Anglo-Saxon Minor Poems.Columbia University PressISBN0-231-08770-5
• The Rune Poem(Old English), ed. and tr.T.A. Shippey,Poems of Wisdom and Learning in Old English.Cambridge, 1976: 80–5.
• Foys, Martinet al.(eds.)Old English Poetry in Facsimile Project,(Madison, WI: Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture, 2019-). Online edition annotated and linked to digital facsimile, with a modern translation.

External links

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