Sigel

The sixteenth futhorc rune, transliterated s. Old English sigel means "sun", and the poem casts it as the seafarer’s hope.

U+16CBtransliterated s/s/ætt 2c. AD 400 – 1100

At a glance

Rune: ᛋU+16CB
Unicode name: RUNIC LETTER SIGEL LONG-BRANCH-SOL S
Alphabet: Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
In use: c. AD 400 – 1100 (Early medieval England and Frisia)
Position: 16, ætt 2
Transliteration: s
Sound value: /s/
Name: sigel: sunAttested

Names

How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.

Form	Language	Meaning	Evidence
sigel	Old English	sun	Attested

An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.

Etymology

Continues *sōwilō. Old English sigel means the sun, and the stanza casts it as the seafarer’s hope, the thing that carries them over the fish’s bath until the sea-steed brings them to land.

AttestedPage 1999; Halsall 1981

Sound value

A plain /s/. English used a more angular form than the Elder Futhark zig-zag.

Variant forms

Alternative shapes for the same rune across regions and periods.

ᛊ

Elder Futhark sowilo

U+16CA

The older zig-zag shape.

Historical use

Common, and the last rune of the second group of eight. English carvers settled on the same angular form the Younger Futhark used, which is why a single Unicode character, RUNIC LETTER SIGEL LONG-BRANCH-SOL S, has to serve both traditions.

AttestedPage 1999

Rune-poem evidence

The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.

The Old English Rune PoemSigel · Old English · Anglo-Saxon Futhorc

Sigel semannum symble biþ on hihte, ðonne hi hine feriaþ ofer fisces beþ, oþ hi brimhengest bringeþ to lande.

The sun is always a hope to seafarers, when they carry themselves over the fish's bath, until the sea-steed brings them to land.(our translation)

Attested in

Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.

Ruthwell CrossDumfriesshire, Scotland · 8th century
Christian verse in runes, on a monumental stone cross.

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 Sigel 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.