Cen
The sixth futhorc rune, transliterated c. Its English name means "torch", the reading modern rune divination adopted, in preference to the Norse "sore".
At a glance
- Rune
- ᚳU+16B3
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER CEN
- Alphabet
- Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
- In use
- c. AD 400 – 1100 (Early medieval England and Frisia)
- Position
- 6, ætt 1
- Transliteration
- c
- Sound value
- /k/ , /tʃ/
- Name
- cen: torch, pine-splintAttested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| cen | Old English | torch, pine-splint | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
The English name means a torch or resinous splint used for lighting. Both Norse poems instead give kaun, "sore, ulcer". Modern rune divination almost universally adopted the English torch reading and quietly discarded the Norse one.
Sound value
Writes /k/, and also /tʃ/ before front vowels once Old English palatalised its velars: the sound change that gives modern English "church" beside German Kirche.
Historical use
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
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)
Kaun er barna bǫlvan; bǫl gørver nán fǫlvan.A sore is the curse of children; affliction makes a corpse pale.(our translation)
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
- Thames scramasaxRiver Thames, London · 10th century
Sixth in the inlaid futhorc 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 Cen 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.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this rune that circulate widely and do not hold up.
The widely used Elder Futhark name "kenaz" is built from this English form, not from a Proto-Germanic word. The usual linguistic reconstruction is *kaunan, following the Norse tradition.
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.