Rune Poems

The Rune Poems are poems that list the letters of runic alphabets while providing an explanatory poetic stanza for each letter. Three different poems have been preserved: the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, the Norwegian Rune Poem, and the Icelandic Rune Poem.

The Icelandic and Norwegian poems list 16 Younger Futhark runes, while the Anglo Saxon Rune Poem lists 26 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 paganism 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.^[1]

Rune poems

English

The Old English Rune Poem as recorded was likely composed in the 8th or 9th century^[2] 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.^[3] 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.^[3]

George Hickes' record of the poem may deviate from the original manuscript.^[3] 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.^[3] 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.^[3] A second copper plate appears across the foot of the page and contains two more runes: stan and gar.^[3]

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.^[3]

Norwegian

The Norwegian Rune Poem was preserved in a 17th-century copy of a destroyed 13th-century manuscript.^[4] 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.^[5]

Icelandic

The Icelandic Rune Poem is recorded in four Arnamagnæan manuscripts, the oldest of the four dating from the late 15th century.^[4] 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.^[5][6]

Example (Icelandic Rune Poem)

Here is an example of a rune poem with English translation side-by-side from Dickins:^[7]

#	rune	name	Old Icelandic	English
1	ᚠ	Fé	Fé er frænda róg ok flæðar viti ok grafseiðs gata aurum fylkir.	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. umbre vísi	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. Saturnus þengill.	Giant = torture of women and cliff-dweller and husband of a giantess.
4	ᚬ	Óss	Óss er algingautr ok ásgarðs jöfurr, ok valhallar vísi. Jupiter oddviti.	God = aged Gautr and prince of Ásgarðr and lord of Vallhalla.
5	ᚱ	Reið	Reið er sitjandi sæla ok snúðig ferð ok jórs erfiði. iter ræsir.	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. flagella konungr.	Ulcer = disease fatal to children and painful spot and abode of mortification.
7	ᚼ	Hagall	Hagall er kaldakorn ok krapadrífa ok snáka sótt. grando hildingr.	Hail = cold grain and shower of sleet and sickness of serpents.
8	ᚾ	Nauð	Nauð er Þýjar þrá ok þungr kostr ok vássamlig verk. opera niflungr.	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. glacies jöfurr.	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. annus allvaldr.	Plenty = boon to men and good summer and thriving crops.
11	ᛋ	Sól	Sól er skýja skjöldr ok skínandi röðull ok ísa aldrtregi. rota siklingr.	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. Mars tiggi.	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. abies buðlungr.	Birch = leafy twig and little tree and fresh young shrub.
14	ᛘ	Maðr	Maðr er manns gaman ok moldar auki ok skipa skreytir. homo mildingr.	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. lacus lofðungr.	Water = eddying stream and broad geysir and land of the fish.
16	ᛦ	Ýr	Ýr er bendr bogi ok brotgjarnt járn ok fífu fárbauti. arcus ynglingr.	Yew = bent bow and brittle iron and giant of the arrow.

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.^[8] The text is recorded in Codex Sangallensis 878,^[5] kept in the St. Gallen abbey, and may originate from Fulda, Germany.

See also

• Briatharogaim
• Gothic alphabet
• Solomon and Saturn
• Runic magic

Notes

1. Lapidge (2007:25–26).
2. Van Kirk Dobbie (1965:XLIX).
3. Van Kirk Dobbie (1965:XLVI).
4. Lapidge (2007:25).
5. Acker (1998:52–53).
6. Nordic Medieval Runes
7. Dickins (1915:28–33)
8. Page (1999:660).

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
• 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.

External links

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