rune

See also: Rune, runë, and runę

English

Anglo-Saxon runes

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse rún, which is from Proto-Germanic *rūnō (“letter, literature, secret”), which is borrowed either from Proto-Celtic *rūnā or from the same source as it; compare Dutch rune, German Rune, Raune, Danish rune and Swedish runa. Compare roun.

Finnic epic poem

Semantic loan from Finnish runo.

"code point"

Suggested by Ken Thompson for use in Plan 9.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ro͞on, IPA^(key): /ɹuːn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːn

Noun

rune (plural runes)

1. A letter, or character, used in the written language of various ancient Germanic peoples, especially the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons.
   • 1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, The Old English Herbals, London: Longmans, Green and Co., page 14:

     Yet they made for man those mystic swords of superhuman workmanship engraved with magic runes and dipped when red hot in blood or in a broth of poisonous herbs and twigs.

   • 1970, Richard Hamer, editor, A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse, Croydon: Faber & Faber, →ISBN, page 76:

     Runes were the letters of an ancient Germanic alphabet, ultimately derived from the Mediterranean alphabets, which was used for carving on wood or stone and which to some extent survived the introduction of writing.

2. Any visually similar script, such as Hungarian runes (the Old Hungarian script) or Turkic runes (the Old Turkic script).
3. A Finnic or Scandinavian epic poem, or a division of one, especially a division of the Kalevala.
4. A letter or mark used as a mystical or magic symbol.
   • 1924, Lord Dunsany, chapter III, in The King of Elfland's Daughter, New York: G.P. Puttnam's Sons, page 30:

     And the sword that had visited Earth from so far away smote like the falling of thunderbolts [...] and the runes in Alveric’s far-travelled sword exulted, and roared at the elf-knight; until in the dark of the wood, amongst branches severed from disenchanted trees, with a blow like that of a thunderbolt riving an oak-tree, Alveric slew him.

   • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 32:

     "Finding you somewhere to live isn't going to be easy," he said. "We must cast the runes," said Catweazle. "They will tell us."

   • 2016, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), Number 3242: The Dunkelest Brau:

     "Are the, um, eldritch runes supposed to glow like that?" "Dunno. I asked the distributor about 'em and he started shaking really fast like in a Tool video."

5. A verse or song, especially one with mystical or mysterious overtones; a spell or an incantation.
   • 1895, Louis Wain, "Owls" (in Illustrated London News summer number 1895, page 28)

     Where the daylight peeps thro' like the glint of the Moon, / And the branches are rustling a murmurous rune, / The Owls sit in council like prophets of Fate, / Discussing grave questions of Kingdom and State.

   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree (as Charles Egbert Craddock), In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 15:

     the fiddle sang and sang as ceaselessly as the chanting cicada without, and the frogs intoning their sylvan runes by the waterside.

6. (obsolete) Alternative form of roun (“secret or mystery”).
7. (programming, in the Go programming language) A Unicode code point.
   • 2016, Shiju Varghese, Go Recipes, Apress, →ISBN, page 12:

     Go language defines the type rune as an alias for the type int32 to represent a Unicode code point. A string in Go is a sequence of runes.

Derived terms

• bind rune, bind-rune
• moonrune, moon rune
• moonrunes
• rune bag
• rune book
• runecarver
• runecast
• runecaster
• runecasting
• rune cloth
• runecraft
• runed
• runeless
• runelike
• runelore
• runemaster
• runemistress
• rune poem
• rune-rister
• rune-risting
• runesmith
• runesong
• rune spread
• runestaff
• runestave
• runester
• runestone
• runework
• runic
• Runic
• runically
• runiform
• runish
• runographic
• runologist
• runology
• twig rune

Verb

rune (third-person singular simple present runes, present participle runing, simple past and past participle runed)

1. (intransitive, poetic, dated) To compose or perform poetry or songs.

Descendants

• → Mandarin: 盧恩 / 卢恩 (lú'ēn)

Translations

letter or character

• Afrikaans: rune (af)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: run (az)
• Bulgarian: руна (bg) f (runa)
• Catalan: runa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 盧恩 / 卢恩 (lú'ēn)

• Danish: rune (da) c
• Dutch: rune (nl) m or f
• Faroese: rún f
• Finnish: riimu (fi), riimukirjain (fi)
• French: rune (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Rune (de) f, Runenbuchstabe m, Runenzeichen (de) n
• Greek: ρούνος m (roúnos)
• Hungarian: rúna (hu)
• Icelandic: rún (is) f
• Irish: rúnscríbhinn f
• Italian: runa (it) f
• Japanese: ルーン文字 (ja) (rūn-moji)
• Kazakh: руна (runa)
• Latin: ^{(please verify)} runa (la) f
• Macedonian: руна f (runa)
• Manx: roon
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rune m or f, runestav m, runetegn n

  Nynorsk: rune f, runestav m, runeteikn n

• Occitan: runa f
• Old Norse: rún f
• Polish: runa (pl) f
• Portuguese: runa f
• Proto-Norse: ᚱᚢᚾᛟ f (runo)
• Russian: ру́на (ru) f (rúna)
• Spanish: runa (es) f
• Swedish: runa (sv) c
• Thai: อักษรรูน
• Turkish: rün (tr), run (tr)
• Uzbek: runa
• Volapük: raunatonat
• Welsh: rŵn m or f, llythyren rwnig f

Finnish or Scandinavian poem

• Finnish: runo (fi)
• Ingrian: runo
• Japanese: (poem) 北欧古詩 (hokuō-koshi); (myth) 北欧神話 (ja) (hokuō-shinwa)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rune m

mystical letter or mark

• Bulgarian: магически знак (magičeski znak)
• Finnish: mystinen merkki

mystical verse or song

• Finnish: loitsu (fi)

secret or mystery

• Finnish: salaisuus (fi)

Anagrams

• Nuer, Uren, neur-, urne

Danish

Younger Futhark (Danish Long branch above), (Swedish-Norwegian Short branch below)

Etymology

From Old Danish run, runæ, from Old Norse rún, from Proto-Norse ᚱᚢᚾᛟ (runo, acc.) from Proto-Germanic *rūnō

Noun

rune c (singular definite runen, plural indefinite runer)

1. rune

Declension

Declension of rune

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	rune	runen	runer	runerne
genitive	runes	runens	runers	runernes

Derived terms

• runologi
• runealfabet
• runeforsker
• runeindskrift
• minderune
• runedansk
• runestav
• runesten

References

• “rune” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “rune” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from German Rune, from Old Norse rún.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrynə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ru‧ne
• Rhymes: -ynə

Noun

rune f (plural runen, diminutive runetje n)

1. rune

Derived terms

• runenkorst
• runenschrift
• runenteken
• runologie
• runoloog

Anagrams

• uren
• urne

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse rún.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁyn/
• Rhymes: -yn

Noun

rune f (plural runes)

1. rune

Derived terms

• runologie

Descendants

• → Turkish: rün

Further reading

• “rune”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈru.ne/
• Rhymes: -une
• Hyphenation: rù‧ne

Noun

rune f

1. plural of runa

Anagrams

• Nure, nure, urne

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *rūna, from Proto-Germanic *rūnō.

Noun

rune f

1. (rare) secretive whispering

Inflection

Weak feminine noun

	singular	plural
nominative	rune	runen
accusative	rune	runen
genitive	rune, runen	runen
dative	rune, runen	runen

Further reading

• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “rune (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse rún.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rʉːnə/
• Rhymes: -ʉːnə

Noun

rune f or m (definite singular runa or runen, indefinite plural runer, definite plural runene)

1. rune

References

• “rune” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Anagrams

• uren

Norwegian Nynorsk

Elder Futhark

Comparison of some post-Reformation runic alphabets from Norway

Alternative forms

• (verb): rune, rona, rone

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Danish rune; likely a reanalysis of Old Norse plural rúnir, whence also runer f pl. Doublet of run.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rʉːnə/

Noun

rune f (definite singular runa, indefinite plural runer, definite plural runene)

1. rune (a letter of runic alphabet)

   Synonym: run

Derived terms

• runestav

Etymology 2

Related to run (“witchcraft; rune”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rʊːnə/

Noun

rune f (definite singular runa, indefinite plural runer, definite plural runene)

1. an old formula, particularly a verse or a proverb

Etymology 3

Noun

rune (present tense runar, past tense runa, past participle runa, passive infinitive runast, present participle runande, imperative rune/run)

1. to conjure

   Synonyms: ganda, trylla

References

• “rune” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “Runa” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈruːne/

Noun

rūne

1. accusative singular of rūn
2. genitive singular of rūn
3. dative singular of rūn
4. nominative plural of rūn
5. accusative plural of rūn

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

rune (Cyrillic spelling руне)

1. inflection of runa:
   1. genitive singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative plural