Ing
The twenty-second futhorc rune, transliterated ŋ. Its stanza preserves one of the few pieces of pre-Christian legend anywhere in the rune poems.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛝU+16DD
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER ING
- Alphabet
- Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
- In use
- c. AD 400 – 1100 (Early medieval England and Frisia)
- Position
- 22, ætt 3
- Transliteration
- ŋ
- Sound value
- /ŋ/
- Name
- ing: the hero or god IngAttested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| ing | Old English | the hero or god Ing | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
A divine name inherited from *Ingwaz. The stanza says Ing was first seen among the East Danes and afterwards went east over the wave with his wagon running behind, an image usually connected with the Norse god Freyr, whose alternative name is Yngvi and whose cult involved a wagon.
Sound value
The "ng" of "sing". Uncommon, since the sound rarely begins a word.
Variant forms
Alternative shapes for the same rune across regions and periods.
Diamond form
U+16DC
The plain diamond shape used in the Elder Futhark; the two forms are interchangeable.
Historical use
Rare in inscriptions, but this stanza is exceptionally important: it is one of the very few places in the whole rune-poem tradition where pre-Christian legendary material appears to have survived intact rather than being moralised away.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Ing wæs ærest mid East-Denum gesewen secgun, oþ he siððan est ofer wæg gewat; wæn æfter ran; ðus Heardingas ðone hæle nemdun.Ing was first seen by people among the East Danes, until he afterwards went east over the wave; his wagon ran behind him. That is what the Heardingas called that hero.(our translation)
One of the very few places where a rune poem preserves what looks like pre-Christian legendary material.
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
- Thames scramasaxRiver Thames, London · 10th century
Present in the 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 Ing 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 3
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.