HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ansuz is the conventional name given to the ''a''-
rune Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...
of the
Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Peri ...
, . The name is based on
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...
''*
ansuz Ansuz is the conventional name given to the ''a''-rune of the Elder Futhark, . The name is based on Proto-Germanic ''* ansuz'', denoting a deity belonging to the principal pantheon in Germanic paganism. The shape of the rune is likely from Ne ...
'', denoting a deity belonging to the principal pantheon in
Germanic paganism Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germ ...
. The shape of the rune is likely from Neo-Etruscan ''a'' (), like Latin A ultimately from Phoenician
aleph Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac , Arabic ʾ and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez . These lett ...
.


Name

In the Norwegian rune poem, ''óss'' is given a meaning of "
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
" while in the Anglo-Saxon one, takes the Latin meaning of "mouth". The Younger Futhark rune is transliterated as ''ą'' to distinguish it from the new ár rune (ᛅ), which continues the '' jēran'' rune after loss of prevocalic ''*j-'' in Proto-Norse ''*jár'' (Old Saxon ). Since the name of ''a'' is attested in the
Gothic alphabet The Gothic alphabet is an alphabet used for writing the Gothic language. Ulfilas (or Wulfila) developed it in the 4th century AD for the purpose of translating the Bible. The alphabet essentially uses uncial forms of the Greek alphabet, wi ...
as or , the common Germanic name of the rune may thus either have been ''*ansuz'' "god", or ''*ahsam'' "ear (of wheat)".


Development in Anglo-Saxon runes

The Anglo-Saxon futhorc split the Elder Futhark ''a'' rune into three independent runes due to the development of the vowel system in
Anglo-Frisian The Anglo-Frisian languages are the Anglic (English, Scots, and Yola) and Frisian varieties of the West Germanic languages. The Anglo-Frisian languages are distinct from other West Germanic languages due to several sound changes: besides th ...
. These three runes are (transliterated ''o''), " oak" (transliterated ''a''), and "
ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
" (transliterated '' æ'').


Development in Younger Futhark

The
Younger Futhark The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries. The ...
corresponding to the Elder Futhark ansuz rune is , called ''óss''. It is transliterated as ''ą''. This represented the phoneme /ɑ̃/, and sometimes /æ/ (also written ) and /o/ (also written ). The variant grapheme became independent as representing the phoneme /ø/ during the 11th to 14th centuries.


Rune poems

It is mentioned in all three
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 Poe ...
s:


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ansuz (Rune) Runes