Kaun
The sixth Younger Futhark rune, transliterated k, and the last of the first ætt. It writes /k/, /g/ and /ŋ/ with a single sign: three Elder Futhark runes collapsed into one.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᚴU+16B4
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER KAUN K
- Alphabet
- Younger Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 800 – 1100 (The Viking Age)
- Position
- 6, ætt 1
- Transliteration
- k
- Sound value
- /k/ , /g/ , /ŋ/
- Name
- kaun: sore, ulcerAttested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| kaun | Old Norse | sore, ulcer | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Both Norse rune poems give "sore" or "ulcer", and the Icelandic poem develops the image unpleasantly. This is the reading modern divination systems quietly set aside in favour of the Old English "torch".
Sound value
Covers /k/, /g/ and /ŋ/ together. The Elder Futhark had separate runes for the first two and a dedicated ingwaz for the third; the Younger Futhark collapsed all three into this one sign.
Variant forms
Alternative shapes for the same rune across regions and periods.
Medieval dotted kaun
U+16B5
From about 1100, a dot separated /g/ from /k/ again.
Historical use
Very common, and a good illustration of how much information the reduced alphabet threw away. A sequence written with this rune could be read three different ways, and only context tells a reader which is meant.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Kaun er barna bǫlvan; bǫl gørver nán fǫlvan.A sore is the curse of children; affliction makes a corpse pale.(our translation)
Kaun er barna böl ok bardaga för ok holdfúa hús.A sore is the bane of children and a mark of battle and the house of rotting flesh.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: flagella and konungr ("king"). The Latin word is damaged in the manuscript and is usually printed flagellum, "whip, scourge". The middle phrase is read differently by different editors.
Cen byþ cwicera gehwam, cuþ on fyre blac ond beorhtlic, byrneþ oftust ðær hi æþelingas inne restaþ.The torch is known to all living things by its flame, pale and bright; it burns most often where noble folk are resting indoors.(our translation)
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
Harald Bluetooth’s monument, whose text uses the reduced alphabet throughout.
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 Kaun 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 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.