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.[citation needed] 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]

## Contents

* 1 Rune poems
* 1.1 English
* 1.2 Norwegian
* 1.3 Icelandic
* 2 Example (Icelandic Rune Poem)
* 3 Abecedarium Nordmannicum
* 4 See also
* 5 Notes
* 6 References
* 7 External links

## 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

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 algingautr
ok ásgarðs jöfurr,
ok valhallar vísi.

God = aged Gautr
and prince of Ásgarðr
and lord of Vallhalla.

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 of temples.

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.

## 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
* Runic magic

## Notes

1. ↑ Lapidge (2007:25–26).
2. ↑ Van Kirk Dobbie (1965:XLIX).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Van Kirk Dobbie (1965:XLVI).
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lapidge (2007:25).
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 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

0.00

(0 votes)

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Place:Rune_Poems&oldid=863114"