Rune poem

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	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. 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