Ehwaz
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Ehwaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the Elder Futhark e rune ᛖ, meaning "horse" (cognate to Latin equus, Sanskrit aśva and Old Irish ech). In the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, it is continued as ᛖ eh (properly eoh, but spelled without the diphthong to avoid confusion with ᛇ ēoh "yew").
The Anglo-Saxon rune poem has:
- ᛖ Eh byþ for eorlum æþelinga wyn,
- hors hofum wlanc, ðær him hæleþ ymb[e]
- welege on wicgum wrixlaþ spræce
- and biþ unstyllum æfre frofur.
- "The horse is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors.
- A steed in the pride of its hoofs,
- when rich men on horseback bandy words about it;
- and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless."
The Proto-Germanic vowel system was asymmetric and unstable. The difference between the vowels expressed by ᛖ e and ᛇ ï were lost. The Younger Futhark continues neither, lacking a letter expressing e altogether. The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc faithfully preserved all Elder Futhorc staves, but assigned new sound values to the redundant ones, Futhorc ēoh expressing a diphthong. In the case of the Gothic alphabet, where the names of the runes were re-applied to letters derived from the Greek alphabet, the letter 𐌴 e was named aiƕus "horse" as well (note that in Gothic orthography, ai represents monophthongic /e/).
| Runes | see also: Rune poems · Runestones · Runology · Runic divination · Runes in popular culture | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elder Fuþark: | ᚠ | ᚢ | ᚦ | ᚨ | ᚱ | ᚲ | ᚷ | ᚹ | ᚺ | ᚾ | ᛁ | ᛃ | ᛇ | ᛈ | ᛉ | ᛊ | ᛏ | ᛒ | ᛖ | ᛗ | ᛚ | ᛜ | ᛞ | ᛟ | ||||||
| Anglo-Saxon Fuþorc: | ᚠ | ᚢ | ᚦ | ᚩ o | ᚱ | ᚳ c | ᚷ ȝ | ᚹ | ᚻ | ᚾ | ᛁ | ᛄ | ᛇ eo | ᛈ | ᛉ x | ᛋ | ᛏ | ᛒ | ᛖ | ᛗ | ᛚ | ᛝ | ᛞ | ᛟ œ | ᚪ a | ᚫ æ | ᚣ y | ᛠ ea | ||
| Younger Fuþark: | ᚠ | ᚢ | ᚦ | ᚬ ą | ᚱ | ᚴ | ᚼ | ᚾ | ᛁ | ᛅ a | ᛋ | ᛏ | ᛒ | ᛘ | ᛚ | ᛦ ʀ | ||||||||||||||
| transliteration: | f | u | þ | a | r | k | g | w · | h | n | i | j | ï | p | z | s · | t | b | e | m | l | ŋ | d | o | ||||||
