Ehwaz
Name | Proto-Germanic | Old English |
---|---|---|
*Ehwaz | E(o)h | |
"horse" | ||
Shape | Elder Futhark | Futhorc |
Unicode | ᛖ U+16D6 | |
Transliteration | e | |
Transcription | e | |
IPA | [e(ː)] | |
Position in rune-row | 19 |
*Ehwaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the Elder Futhark e rune ᛖ, meaning "horse" (cognate to Latin equus, Gaulish epos, Tocharian B yakwe, Sanskrit aśva, Avestan aspa and Old Irish ech). In the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, it is continued as ᛖ eh (properly eoh, but spelled without the diphthong to avoid confusion with ᛇ ēoh "yew").
The Proto-Germanic vowel system was asymmetric and unstable. The difference between the long vowels expressed by ᛖ e and ᛇ ï (sometimes transcribed as *ē1 and *ē2) was lost. The Younger Futhark continues neither, lacking a letter expressing e altogether. The Anglo-Saxon futhorc faithfully preserved all Elder futhorc staves, but assigned new sound values to the redundant ones, futhorc ēoh expressing a diphthong.
In the case of the Gothic alphabet, where the names of the runes were re-applied to letters derived from the Greek alphabet, the letter 𐌴 e was named aíƕus "horse" as well (note that in Gothic orthography, ⟨aí⟩ represents monophthongic /e/).
The rune may have been an original innovation, or it may have been adapted from the classical Latin alphabet's E.[citation needed]
Anglo-Saxon rune poem
The Anglo-Saxon rune poem has:
- ᛖ Eh bẏþ for eorlum æþelinga ƿẏn,
- hors hofum ƿlanc, ðær him hæleþ ẏmb[e]
- ƿelege on ƿicgum ƿrixlaþ spræce
- and biþ unstẏllum æfre frofur.
- "The horse is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors.
- A steed in the pride of its hoofs,
- when rich men on horseback bandy words about it;
- and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless."
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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
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