Wunjō
The eighth Elder Futhark rune and the last of the first ætt, transliterated w. Its name *wunjō means "joy". It survived into the Latin alphabet as the Old English letter wynn.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᚹU+16B9
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER WUNJO WYNN W
- Alphabet
- Elder Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 150 – 800 (Roman Iron Age to the beginning of the Viking Age)
- Position
- 8, ætt 1
- Transliteration
- w
- Sound value
- /w/
- Name
- *wunjō: joyReconstructed
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| *wunjō | Proto-Germanic | joy | Reconstructed |
| wynn | Old English | joy, delight | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
From the root of English "win" and German Wonne, with a sense of pleasure or contentment rather than victory.
Sound value
A /w/. Like thorn, this rune was borrowed into the Latin alphabet for Old English, as the letter wynn (ƿ), before scribes replaced it with "uu" and then "w".
Historical use
Closes the first ætt. It is easily confused with thurisaz in worn inscriptions, since the two differ only in where the pocket sits on the stave.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Wenne bruceþ, ðe can weana lyt sares and sorge and him sylfa hæfþ blæd and blysse and eac byrga geniht.Joy is enjoyed by the one who knows few troubles, pain or sorrow, and who has for themselves prosperity and happiness, and the plenty of a stronghold besides.(our translation)
The verse has wenne, not the nominative wynn: brūcan governs the genitive, so the name stands here in an oblique case, with e for y. Same word inflected, not a different name.
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
A dot follows this rune, marking the end of the first group of eight.
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 happiness, wellbeing and the pleasure of good company, an unusually direct carry-over from the attested name.
Reversed (modern practice calls this “merkstave”)
Sorrow, alienation, or a delayed happiness. A modern convention.
Where this comes from: One of the least contested modern readings, because the Old English poem and the reconstructed name point the same way.
The same rune in other alphabets
Runes descended from the same original character, so you can follow it through time.
The rest of ætt 1
Sources for this entry
Full references are on the sources page. If you think something here is wrong, our corrections policy explains how to say so.