Cealc
A doubled variant of calc, and the thinnest-attested rune on this site. It is not part of the 33-rune manuscript row, though charts routinely put it there in place of stan.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛤU+16E4
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER CEALC
- Alphabet
- Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
- In use
- c. AD 400 – 1100 (Early medieval England and Frisia)
- Position
- 34
- Transliteration
- kk
- Sound value
- /k/
- Name
- cealc: unclear; a doubled variant of calcContested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| cealc | Old English | unclear; a doubled variant of calc | Contested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Sound value
Apparently a doubled or emphatic variant of calc. Its precise function is not established.
Historical use
The thinnest-attested rune covered on this site, and the one place where this dictionary steps outside the standard row: cealc is not one of the 33 runes of Cotton Domitian A.ix, but a doubled calc that turns up in some later lists. It is included for completeness rather than because much can be said about it.
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
- Manuscript futhorc rowsEngland · 10th–11th century
Extended alphabet rows copied by late English scribes.
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 Cealc 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.
Cealc is often listed as the third of four Northumbrian additions, displacing stan from charts that then still claim a total of 33. It is a doubled form of calc and sits outside that row.
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.