Ac
The twenty-fifth futhorc rune, transliterated a, and one of the Anglo-Frisian additions. Named for the oak, it exists because sound changes split the inherited a-vowel apart.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᚪU+16AA
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER AC A
- Alphabet
- Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
- In use
- c. AD 400 – 1100 (Early medieval England and Frisia)
- Position
- 25
- Transliteration
- a
- Sound value
- /ɑ/ , /ɑː/
- Name
- ac: oakAttested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| ac | Old English | oak | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
An English creation, named for the oak. The stanza plays on the word treow, which means both "tree" and "faith": the oak feeds pigs on land and becomes ships at sea, and the ocean tests whether it keeps noble faith.
Sound value
A back /a/. This rune exists because the inherited a-vowel split in Old English: the old ansuz rune took the o-value, and new runes were needed to cover what was left.
Historical use
Common, and one of the clearest illustrations of why the futhorc grew while the Younger Futhark shrank. Sound changes created new vowels, and scribes responded by inventing new runes rather than overloading the existing ones. "English scribes" is the usual shorthand and it prejudges a real question: ac belongs to the Anglo-Frisian innovations, which turn up early in both England and Frisia, and which side devised them has never been settled.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Ac byþ on eorþan elda bearnum flæsces fodor, fereþ gelome ofer ganotes bæþ; garsecg fandaþ hwæþer ac hæbbe æþele treowe.The oak on land feeds the flesh of the children of men; it often travels over the gannet's bath, and the ocean tests whether the oak keeps noble faith.(our translation)
The wordplay is deliberate: treow means both "tree" and "faith". Oak fed pigs on land and became ships at sea.
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
- Thames scramasaxRiver Thames, London · 10th century
One of the English additions present in the inlaid 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
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 Anglo-Saxon Futhorc separately. Inventing a reading for Ac 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. How modern rune meanings were arrived at is a separate discussion.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this rune that circulate widely and do not hold up.
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.