Berkanan
The eighteenth Elder Futhark rune, transliterated b. Its name means "birch", and all three rune poems describe the tree.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛒU+16D2
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER BERKANAN BEORC BJARKAN B
- Alphabet
- Elder Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 150 – 800 (Roman Iron Age to the beginning of the Viking Age)
- Position
- 18, ætt 3
- Transliteration
- b
- Sound value
- /b/
- Name
- *berkanan: birch, birch twigReconstructed
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| *berkanan | Proto-Germanic | birch, birch twig | Reconstructed |
| beorc | Old English | birch, poplar | Attested |
| bjarkan | Old Norse | birch | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
The birch tree, from the root that gives English "birch". All three traditions agree on the name; what is argued over is the Old English stanza, which describes a tree bearing no fruit and has led some editors to think its poet had the poplar in mind.
Sound value
A /b/. In the Younger Futhark this rune also has to write /p/.
Variant forms
Alternative shapes for the same rune across regions and periods.
Younger Futhark short-twig bjarkan
U+16D3
The simplified Viking-Age form.
Historical use
Common. Bind-runes and stacked b-forms appear throughout the medieval Scandinavian material, where runes were cut freehand into wood and a carver could join adjacent characters to save space on a narrow stick.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Beorc byþ bleda leas, bereþ efne swa ðeah tanas butan tudder, biþ on telgum wlitig, heah on helme hrysted fægere, geloden leafum, lyfte getenge.The birch bears no fruit; even so it produces shoots without seed; it is lovely in its branches, high in its crown, finely adorned, laden with leaves, reaching towards the sky.(our translation)
Bjarkan er laufgrønstr líma; Loki bar flærða tíma.The birch is the greenest-leaved of branches; Loki brought the fortune of deceit.(our translation)
Bjarkan er laufgat lim ok lítit tré ok ungsamligr viðr.The birch is a leafy branch and a little tree and youthful wood.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: abies ("fir") and buðlungr ("prince").
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
Eighteenth position in the futhark 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
How this rune is read in contemporary divination, which is a separate question from what it meant historically.
Upright
Read as new growth and fertility, frequently tied to birth and motherhood.
Reversed (modern practice calls this “merkstave”)
Stunted growth, or a beginning that fails to take. A modern convention.
Where this comes from: The motherhood association is modern. The rune poems describe a tree, and the Old English poem specifically notes that the birch bears shoots without seed.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this rune that circulate widely and do not hold up.
Berkanan is often called "the goddess rune" or linked to a birth-goddess. No historical source makes that connection.
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.