Ansuz (rune)
Ansuz (rune)
| Name | Proto-Germanic | Old English | Old Norse | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Ansuz | Ōs | Āc | Æsc | Óss | ||
| "god" | "god" | "oak" | "ash" | "god" | ||
| Shape | Elder Futhark | Futhorc | Younger Futhark | |||
 |  |  | |  |  | |
| Unicode | ᚨ U+16A8 | ᚩ U+16A9 | ᚪ U+16AA | ᚫ U+16AB | ᚬ U+16AC | ᚭ U+16AD |
| Transliteration | a | o | a | æ | o | |
| Transcription | a | o | a | æ | ą, o | |
| IPA | [a(ː)] | [o(ː)] | [ɑ(ː)] | [æ(ː)] | [ɑ̃],[o(ː)] | |
| Position in rune-row | 4 | 4 | 25 | 26 | 4 | |
Ansuz is the conventional name given to the a-rune of the Elder Futhark, ᚨ. 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 Neo-Etruscan a ([[INLINE_IMAGE|//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/EtruscanA-01.png/15px-EtruscanA-01.png|//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/EtruscanA-01.png/23px-EtruscanA-01.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/EtruscanA-01.png/30px-EtruscanA-01.png 2x|EtruscanA-01.png|h15|w15]]), like Latin A ultimately from Phoenician aleph.
Name
In the Norwegian rune poem, óss is given a meaning of "estuary" while in the Anglo-Saxon one, ōs ᚩ 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 jār).
Since the name of [[INLINE_IMAGE|//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Gothic_a.svg/15px-Gothic_a.svg.png|//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Gothic_a.svg/23px-Gothic_a.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Gothic_a.svg/30px-Gothic_a.svg.png 2x|Gothic a.svg|h15|w15]] a is attested in the Gothic alphabet as ahsa or aza, 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. These three runes are ōs ᚩ (transliterated o), ac "oak" ᚪ (transliterated a), and æsc ᚫ "ash" (transliterated æ).
Development in Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark corresponding to the Elder Futhark ansuz rune is ᚬ, called óss. It is transliterated as ą. This represented the phoneme /ɑ̃/, and sometimes /æ/ (also written ᛅ) and /o/ (also written ᚢ). The variant grapheme ᚯ became independent as representing the phoneme /ø/ during the 11th to 14th centuries.
Rune poems
In the Icelandic rune poem, the name óss refers to Odin:
ᚬÓss er algingautr ok ásgarðs jöfurr, ok valhallar vísi. | Óss is agedGautr and prince of Asgard and lord of Valhalla. |