ᚱᚢᚾᛟ
Proto-Norse
FWOTD – 13 October 2012
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *rūnǭ, accusative singular of *rūnō.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈruː.noː/
Noun
ᚱᚢᚾᛟ (runo /rūnō/) f (accusative plural ᚱᚢᚾᛟᛉ)
- secret, mystery
- rune, inscription, message
- 4th century, inscription on the Einang stone:
- [ᛖᚲ ...]ᛞᚨᚷᚨᛋᛏᛁᛉ ᚱᚢᚾᛟ ᚠᚨᛁᚺᛁᛞᛟ
- [ek ...]dagastiʀ runo faihido
- [I, ...]dagastiz, painted the rune
- 4th century, inscription on the Einang stone:
Declension
This word is never attested in the nominative singular. However, by looking at other ō-stem nouns such as ᛚᚨᚦᚢ (laþu), and at the Old Norse descendant, we can presume that it should have been *ᚱᚢᚾᚢ (*runu /rūnu/).
Derived terms
- ᚷᛁᚾᛟᚱᛟᚾᛟᛦ (ginoronoʀ, “magically powerful runes”), ᚷᛁᚾᛡᚱᚢᚾᛡᛉ (ginᴀrunᴀʀ, “magically powerful runes”)
Descendants
- Old Norse: rún, ᚱᚢᚾ (run), ᚱᚢᚾᛅᛦ (runaʀ), ᚱᚢᚾᛁᛦ (runiʀ), ᚱᚢᚾᚬᛦ (runąʀ)
- → Finnish: runo
Further reading
- Terje Spurkland, Norwegian runes and runic inscriptions (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, →ISBN, 2005), pages 42–43[1]