Proto-Norse
photograph of the inscription on the Einang stone, which may be the oldest attestation of this word
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *rūnō.
Pronunciation
Noun
ᚱᚢᚾᛟ (runo) f (accusative plural ᚱᚢᚾᛟᛉ)
- secret, mystery
- rune
- 4th century, inscription on the Einang stone:
[ᛖᚲ ᚷᛟ]ᛞᚨᚷᚨᛋᛏᛁᛉ ᚱᚢᚾᛟ ᚠᚨᛁᚺᛁᛞᛟ- [ek go]dagastiʀ runo faihido
- [I, Go]dagastiz, painted the rune
Descendants
- Old Norse: rún
- Icelandic: rún f
- Faroese: rún f
- Norwegian Nynorsk: run f, runer f pl (← rúnir); (dialectal) rón f, rjón n
- Old Swedish: rūn, rūna
- Old Danish: rune
- Danish: rune c (partially through artificial revival), runer pl
- Norwegian Bokmål: rune m or f
- → German: Rune f
- → English: rune
- → Mandarin: 盧恩/卢恩 (lú'ēn)
Further reading
- Terje Spurkland, Norwegian runes and runic inscriptions (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, →ISBN, 2005), pages 42–43 [1]