Īsaz
The eleventh Elder Futhark rune, transliterated i, and the simplest in the alphabet: a single vertical stroke. Its name means "ice" in every tradition.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛁU+16C1
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER ISAZ IS ISS I
- Alphabet
- Elder Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 150 – 800 (Roman Iron Age to the beginning of the Viking Age)
- Position
- 11, ætt 2
- Transliteration
- i
- Sound value
- /i/ , /iː/
- Name
- *īsaz: iceReconstructed
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| *īsaz | Proto-Germanic | ice | Reconstructed |
| is | Old English | ice | Attested |
| íss | Old Norse | ice | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Unambiguously "ice" in every tradition: Old English is, Old Norse íss, and the reconstructed *īsaz all agree, as do all three rune poems. Along with hail, this is one of the two rune names about which there has never been any serious argument.
Sound value
Short and long /i/. In the Younger Futhark this rune also covers /e/, and in medieval runes a dotted form was invented to separate them again.
Historical use
A single vertical stroke: the simplest possible rune, and consequently the hardest to identify with confidence on a damaged object, where any scratch can look like an i-rune.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Is byþ ofereald, ungemetum slidor, glisnaþ glæshluttur gimmum gelicust, flor forste geworuht, fæger ansyne.Ice is very cold, immeasurably slippery; it glitters glass-clear, most like gems, a floor wrought by frost, fair to look upon.(our translation)
Ís kǫllum brú bræiða; blindan þarf at læiða.Ice we call a broad bridge; the blind man needs to be led.(our translation)
Íss er árbörkr ok unnar þak ok feigra manna fár.Ice is the bark of rivers and the roof of the wave and a peril for doomed men.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: glacies ("ice") and jöfurr ("ruler").
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
Eleventh 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 a standstill: progress frozen, but also a moment of clarity and preservation. The Old English poem's glass-clear, gem-like image is usually invoked.
Where this comes from: No reversed reading in most systems; the glyph is a single symmetrical stroke.
The same rune in other alphabets
Runes descended from the same original character, so you can follow it through time.
The rest of ætt 2
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.