Ehwaz
The nineteenth Elder Futhark rune, transliterated e. Its name means "horse" and is cognate with Latin equus. It does not survive into the Younger Futhark.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛖU+16D6
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER EHWAZ EH E
- Alphabet
- Elder Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 150 – 800 (Roman Iron Age to the beginning of the Viking Age)
- Position
- 19, ætt 3
- Transliteration
- e
- Sound value
- /e/ , /eː/
- Name
- *ehwaz: horseReconstructed
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| *ehwaz | Proto-Germanic | horse | Reconstructed |
| eh | Old English | warhorse, steed | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Cognate with Latin equus, the ordinary Indo-European word for horse. One of the better-secured reconstructions.
Sound value
Short and long /e/. The Younger Futhark drops this rune and writes /e/ with the i-rune.
Historical use
Moderately common while it lasted. It disappears from Scandinavian use around the same time as the other Elder Futhark runes that the reduced alphabet discarded.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Eh byþ for eorlum æþelinga wyn, hors hofum wlanc, ðær him hæleþ ymbe welege on wicgum wrixlaþ spræce and biþ unstyllum æfre frofur.The horse is, in front of nobles, the joy of princes, a steed proud in its hooves, where wealthy warriors on horseback exchange talk about it; and to the restless it is always a comfort.(our translation)
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
Nineteenth position in the futhark 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
How this rune is read in contemporary divination, which is a separate question from what it meant historically.
Upright
Read as a working partnership, horse and rider, and so as trust, cooperation and reliable movement forward.
Reversed (modern practice calls this “merkstave”)
A partnership out of step, or misplaced trust. A modern convention.
Where this comes from: The partnership reading extends the Old English stanza, which is about the relationship between rider and horse rather than about the animal alone.
The same rune in other alphabets
Runes descended from the same original character, so you can follow it through time.
The rest of ætt 3
Sources for this entry
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