Calc
The second Northumbrian addition, transliterated k. It exists because English palatalisation split the old cen rune’s sound, and it is attested on the Ruthwell Cross.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛣU+16E3
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER CALC
- Alphabet
- Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
- In use
- c. AD 400 – 1100 (Early medieval England and Frisia)
- Position
- 31
- Transliteration
- k
- Sound value
- /k/
- Name
- calc: chalk, or a chalice or sandal; the word is ambiguousContested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| calc | Old English | chalk, or a chalice or sandal; the word is ambiguous | Contested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Sound value
A hard /k/, added because the original cen rune had come to write /tʃ/ before front vowels and a separate character was needed for the unpalatalised sound.
Historical use
The most functionally justified of the Northumbrian additions: English palatalisation really did create a need for a separate hard-k rune. It is also the best attested of them in carved use, appearing on the Ruthwell Cross and on the Bramham Moor and Kingmoor rings; only gar comes close, and cweorð and stan not at all.
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
- Ruthwell CrossDumfriesshire, Scotland · 8th century
One of the few monuments where a Northumbrian addition is securely attested in carved use.
- The Anglo-Saxon runic ringsCumbria and West Yorkshire, England · 9th–10th century
The Kingmoor and Bramham Moor rings carry this rune inside their charm formula. With the Ruthwell Cross they are where calc can be seen used rather than merely listed in a manuscript row.
Signatures follow the Scandinavian Runic-text Database so you can look each inscription up directly. Each name links to the object's own entry.
Modern meaning
Why this entry has none.
None is given here. Modern rune divination is built almost entirely on the Elder Futhark, and no established modern tradition reads the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc separately. Inventing a reading for Calc to fill the space would be exactly the kind of fabrication this site exists to flag, so the field is left empty rather than filled. How modern rune meanings were arrived at is a separate discussion.
Sources for this entry
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