Rune (pronounced roon)
(1) Any
of the characters of certain ancient Germanic alphabets (derived from the Roman
alphabet), as of a script used for writing the Germanic languages, especially
of Scandinavia and Britain, circa 200-1200 AD, or a script used for
inscriptions in a Turkic language between the sixth and eighth centuries from
the area near the Orkhon River in Mongolia.
Each character was ascribed some magical significance.
(2) Something
written or inscribed in such characters.
(3) An
aphorism, poem, or saying with mystical meaning or for use in casting a spell;
any obscure piece of writing using mysterious symbols; a spell or incantation.
(4) In
literary use, a poem, song, or verse.
(5) A
Finnish or Scandinavian epic poem, or a division of one, especially a division
of the Kalevala.
(6) A
roun (secret or mystery) (obsolete).
(7) In
computing, in the Go programming language, a Unicode code point.
1675–1685:
From the Old Norse rūn & rún (a secret, writing, runic character),
cognate with the Old English rūn, the
Middle English rune, the obsolete
English roun and the Finnish runo (poem, canto). All were related to the Old Saxon, Old High
German and Gothic runa which, like
the Old Norse rūn & rún is from the Proto-Germanic rūnō (letter, literature, secret), which
is borrowed from either the Proto-Celtic rūnā
or from the same source as it.
Of the
Runic
Runologists squabble over details of the historical origins of runic writing but there’s a general consensus runes were derived from one of the many Old Italic alphabets in use among the Mediterranean peoples of the first century AD, those who lived to the south of the Germanic tribes. Earlier Germanic sacred symbols, such as those preserved in northern European rock carvings, also may have influenced the development of the script. The transmission of writing from southern to northern Europe appears to have been spread by Germanic military formations which would have encountered Italic writing during campaigns amongst their southerly neighbours. This hypothesis is supported by the association runes have always had with the god Odin, who, in the Proto-Germanic period (under his original name Woðanaz), was the divine model of the warrior leader. The Roman historian Tacitus noted Odin (Mercury in the interpretatio romana) was already established as the dominant god in the pantheons of many Germanic tribes by the first century AD although whether the runes and the cult of Odin arose together or one predated the other remains in dispute. In Norse mythology however, the runes came from nothing as mundane as an old alphabet. The runes were never invented or a product of evolution but are eternal, pre-existent forces Odin himself discovered by undergoing a tremendous ordeal.
The
Hávamál
The Hávamál (Sayings of Hár, Sayings of the
high one) is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. A kind of survival guide to for those seeking
to live a good life, the form of verse varies, the most notable being where the
text shifts to discuss how Odin (Odhins) gained the secret of the magical runes
and came to learn the spells. A work
thus both pragmatic and philosophical, the poem’s only known source the Codex
Regius, thought to date from circa 800.
The
Rúnatal (Rúnatáls-tháttr-Odhins or Odins Rune Song) contains the stanzas in
which Odin reveals the secret of the Runes.
I know that I hung on a windy treenine long nights,Wounded with a spear, dedicated to Odin,myself to myself,on that tree of which no man knowsfrom where its roots run.No bread did they give me nor a drink from a
horn,downwards I peered;I took up the runes, screaming I took them,then I fell back from there.
The Hávamál concludes with the mystical Ljóðatal, which dwells on knowledge and the knowing of the Odinic mysteries. A kind of dictionary which lists and provides a legend creating keys to a sequenced number of runic charms, there are linkages with the Sigrdrífumál (known often as Brynhildarljóð, a section of the Poetic Edda text in Codex Regius) in which the valkyrie Sigrdrífa details a number of the runes at her command. In stanza 151, there’s an allusion to the sending of a tree root carved with runes, a noted motif in Norse mythology and the cause of death of Grettir the Strong.
I know a sixth one if a man wounds mewith the roots of the sap-filled wood:and that man who conjured to harm me,the evil consumes him, not me.
Historians
and archivists have devoted much attention to the Codex Regius, reconstructing
its timeline from the many fragmentary sources.
The earliest writings appear to have been collections of proverbs,
sayings and advice attributed to Othin, probably in the manner so much in the Bible
is said to have been the words of Solomon; other dubious claims of connection
exist in the texts of the Buddha, Confucius, the Prophet Muhammad and others
where the documentary record can never be conclusive. The collection was thus, probably from its
earliest times, elastic in content though always known as "The High One's
Words", others taking advantage of the authority Othin’s imprimatur conferred
to add such poems or other sayings of wisdom they thought appropriate. In the nature of such things, the style of
writing displays a consistency, important when seeking to imply that the
speaker was Othin, a process which is something of a gray area in the history
of literary forgery, the later authors perhaps assured what they were adding
was what Othin might have said or with which he would anyway have concurred. So, a catalogue of runes, or charms, was later
bolted-on, along with new sets of proverbs, differing in content but not in
style from those in the original document.
There are some stylistic variations in form in that some verses verge
upon the narrative but the structure of the whole is loose, accommodating the
odd innovation without jarring effect. It’s
agreed that structurally the text exists in five parts:
(1) The
Hovamol proper (stanzas 1-80): The sayings and proverbs to guide the living of
life, a kind of early self-help manual.
(2) The
Loddfafnismol (stanzas 111-138): Another collection similar to the first, but these
more a discourse on ethics and morality and addressed specifically to a young
man known as Loddfafnir.
(3) The
Ljothatal (stanzas 147-165): A listing of charms.
(4) The
love-story of Othin and Billing's daughter (stanzas 96-102): The love story is
something of a cautionary tale, beginning as it does with a dissertation on the
faithlessness and general unreliability of women (stanzas 81-95). Scholars suggest the warning words were the
first written with the rest of the poem created as an apt illustration.
(5) This
is the story of how Othin got the mead of poetry, the draft document which
delivered to him the gift of tongues, an indulgence from the maiden Gunnloth
(stanzas 103-110). Added to this (and
obviously later) is the brief passage (stanzas 139 146) recounting Othin’s
winning of the runes. Structurally, the
poem needs this section as an introduction to the Ljothatal and any good editor
would have insisted on its inclusion.
Of the authorship
or even the dates of the accretions, nothing can for sure be known. All than can be said is that some is very old
and some more recent which isn’t a great deal of help but anything else is
merely speculative. The text instead
needs to be read as it is: a gnomic collection of the wisdom a violent race
living in a brutish world written to help people survive in an unforgiving time
when, days when wherever one went, one would be ill-advised to assume one was
among friends. Tellingly, women are not
mentioned in the non-narrative sections of the poem, not even a nod to the
advantage of having someone to cook and clean for this is very much a work
about the world of men on earth, the threats and their consequences. There’s no discussion of heaven and hell or
any after-life, no judgement beyond that of one's fellow men.
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