rune

Etymology

The modern word is a learned borrowing of the late 17th century.^[2][3][4] The OED takes it as partly borrowed from Old Norse rún (“runic character, secret, mystery”), as used by Scandinavian antiquarian writers, partly borrowed from Danish rune, with Swedish runa and Norwegian rune, and partly borrowed from Late Latin runa (“runic character”), recorded from the 6th century.^[5] Etymonline and Barnhart also point to a Scandinavian source, possibly Danish.^[3][4] It is in part a revival of Old English rūn (“secret, mystery, counsel; runic letter”),^[5][6] which came down as Middle English roun but died out in the 15th century.^[3] The Old English and Norse words go back to Proto-Germanic *rūnō,^[6][4][7] also the source of Old Saxon rūna (“secret, counsel, rune”), Old High German rūna (“secret discussion”) and Gothic 𐍂𐌿𐌽𐌰 (rūna, “secret, mystery”).^[8][4] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ru-no-, a source of terms of magic in Germanic and Celtic.^[3] The Germanic form is akin to Proto-Celtic *rūnā (“secret, magic”), compare Old Irish rún (“secret”) and Welsh rhin (“magic charm”),^[6] and Orel reports the view that it is related to the Celtic forms and the view that it was borrowed from them.^[7] A link with Latin rūmor is given as probable by Merriam-Webster and as possible by the American Heritage Dictionary.^[8][6] The sense "poem" is partly after Finnish runo (“poem, song of the Kalevala”), itself of Germanic origin.^[5][8] The OED also mentions a suggestion that the meanings "runic character" and "secret, mystery" may not share one origin.^[5] Other European languages borrowed the word in the same period: French rune in 1653, German Rune in 1663 and Dutch rune in the 18th century.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any of the letters of the earliest Germanic alphabet: 1676, in Sammes's Britannia Antiqua Illustrata,^[5][8] though Barnhart's first record is from 1685.^[4] The adjective runic is older, from 1632 in the OED^[5] and 1662 in Barnhart.^[4] The Old English ancestor already meant a runic letter, before 899 in Barnhart's dating.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The Old English word covered counsel or consultation (about 725), a runic letter (before 899) and a secret or mystery (about 950),^[4] and Bosworth–Toller starts from "a whisper", hence speech not meant to be overheard.^[9] Middle English kept it for an utterance or talk, a song or incantation, and a form of speech or a language.^[5] Skeat argued that "whisper" came first, then "mystery", and that the name passed to carved characters because writing was a secret known to few;^[10] Ayto instead starts from "mystery".^[11] Etymonline notes that the common view of magic as the original sense is questioned by some linguists.^[3] Etymonline dates the alphabet to the 2nd century AD and connects it with contact with Greek writing,^[3] Collins derives it from the Roman alphabet and dates it from the 3rd century,^[12] and Barnhart says that the Roman alphabet had finally supplanted it by about 1100.^[4] Straight strokes suited cutting into wood or stone.^[3][4][13] When the word returned to English, the antiquarian sense came first (1676).^[5] From 1690, in Temple, it was also an ancient Finnish or Scandinavian poem,^[5] and by the 19th century any cryptic or magic verse (Emerson, 1841).^[5] A marked stone or piece of bone used in divination is recorded from 1829,^[5] and the Word Origins dictionary notes that runes have become a favourite element of modern fantasy literature.^[13]

Timeline

• 1676 – any of the letters of the earliest Germanic alphabet, in Sammes.^[5][8] Barnhart dates it to 1685.^[4]
• 1690 – an ancient Finnish or Scandinavian poem, in Temple.^[5]
• 1829 – a small marked stone or piece of bone used in divination.^[5]
• 1832 – verb, to compose or perform poetry or songs, in Motherwell.^[5]
• 1841 – any song or verse, especially a cryptic or magic one, in Emerson.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of the letters of the ancient Germanic alphabet, used especially by Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons and suited to carving in wood or stone.^[12][5][8]
2. A mark or character with mysterious or magic significance; an obscure piece of writing in such symbols.^[12][5]
3. A small stone, piece of bone or tile marked with such a letter and used in divination: to cast runes.^[5][14]
4. A magic incantation or spell.^[8][15]
5. An ancient Finnish poem or a division of one, especially of the Kalevala.^[12][8][5]
6. A poem or song, especially a cryptic one; also a lament.^[8][5]

Verb

1. (rare, literary) To compose or perform poetry; to chant.^[5][15]

Word family

• runic
• runelike
• runed

Related words

• roun
• rumor
• Runnymede

Usage notes

The spelling rune was also used for a word with a separate origin, meaning a flow of blood or water or a stream, from the Germanic base of run; it is recorded from Old English to 1870 and was chiefly south-western in later use.^[5] Wright's dialect dictionary has it as a watercourse in Somerset, and as a low ridge marking a boundary in Cumberland.^[16]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
15. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)