Íss
The ninth Younger Futhark rune, transliterated i, and the simplest shape in the alphabet. It writes both /i/ and /e/, since the alphabet has no separate e-rune.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛁU+16C1
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER ISAZ IS ISS I
- Alphabet
- Younger Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 800 – 1100 (The Viking Age)
- Position
- 9, ætt 2
- Transliteration
- i
- Sound value
- /i/ , /e/
- Name
- íss: iceAttested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| íss | Old Norse | ice | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Continues Elder Futhark *īsaz unchanged in both form and meaning. Together with hail, ice is one of the two rune names that has never been seriously disputed in any tradition.
Sound value
Writes both /i/ and /e/, since the Younger Futhark dropped the Elder Futhark e-rune. Medieval scribes reinstated the distinction with a dot.
Variant forms
Alternative shapes for the same rune across regions and periods.
Medieval dotted íss
U+16C2
From about 1100, a dot marked /e/ as distinct from /i/.
Historical use
A single vertical stroke, and consequently the hardest rune to read with confidence on a damaged surface, where any scratch or crack can look like an i-rune. Runologists treat isolated vertical strokes with caution for exactly this reason.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Ís kǫllum brú bræiða; blindan þarf at læiða.Ice we call a broad bridge; the blind man needs to be led.(our translation)
Íss er árbörkr ok unnar þak ok feigra manna fár.Ice is the bark of rivers and the roof of the wave and a peril for doomed men.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: glacies ("ice") and jöfurr ("ruler").
Is byþ ofereald, ungemetum slidor, glisnaþ glæshluttur gimmum gelicust, flor forste geworuht, fæger ansyne.Ice is very cold, immeasurably slippery; it glitters glass-clear, most like gems, a floor wrought by frost, fair to look upon.(our translation)
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
Its skaldic stanza depends on precise reading of vowels that the alphabet does not fully distinguish.
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 Younger Futhark separately. Inventing a reading for Íss 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. Its Elder Futhark ancestor is linked further down and does carry a modern reading, labelled as modern. How modern rune meanings were arrived at is a separate discussion.
The same rune in other alphabets
Runes descended from the same original character, so you can follow it through time.
The rest of ætt 2
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.