Sōwilō

The sixteenth Elder Futhark rune and the last of the second ætt, transliterated s. Its name means "sun" in every tradition.

U+16CAtransliterated s/s/ætt 2c. AD 150 – 800

At a glance

Rune: ᛊU+16CA
Unicode name: RUNIC LETTER SOWILO S
Alphabet: Elder Futhark
In use: c. AD 150 – 800 (Roman Iron Age to the beginning of the Viking Age)
Position: 16, ætt 2
Transliteration: s
Sound value: /s/
Name: *sōwilō: sunReconstructed

Names

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

Form	Language	Meaning	Evidence
*sōwilō	Proto-Germanic	sun	Reconstructed
sigel	Old English	sun	Attested
sól	Old Norse	sun	Attested

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

Etymology

All traditions agree on "sun". The reconstruction of the exact Proto-Germanic form is complicated by an unusual alternation in the word, but the meaning is not in doubt.

AttestedBarnes 2012; Antonsen 1975

Sound value

A plain /s/. The number of strokes varies between three and five across the corpus, and the later angular form used in the Younger Futhark and the futhorc looks quite different from the Elder Futhark shape.

Variant forms

Alternative shapes for the same rune across regions and periods.

ᛋ

Long-branch sól / Anglo-Saxon sigel

U+16CB

The angular later form used in the Younger Futhark and the futhorc.

Historical use

Common. Closes the second ætt. The rune is written with a variable number of strokes, from three to five, across the corpus.

AttestedLooijenga 2003

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)

The Norwegian Rune PoemSól · Old Norse · Younger Futhark

Sól er landa ljóme; lúti ek helgum dóme.

The sun is the light of the lands; I bow to the holy judgement.(our translation)

The Icelandic Rune PoemSól · Old Norse (Icelandic) · Younger Futhark

Sól er skýja skjöldr ok skínandi röðull ok ísa aldrtregi.

The sun is the shield of the clouds and a shining ray and the lifelong sorrow of ice.(our translation)

Manuscript tags: rota ("wheel") and siklingr ("king").

Attested in

Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.

Vadstena bracteateÖg 178Östergötland, Sweden · c. AD 500
A dot follows this rune, closing the second group of eight.

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.

Modernsuccessvitalityguidancewholeness

Upright

Read as the sun's energy: success, health, and a guiding light.

Reversed (modern practice calls this “merkstave”)

False guidance, or energy that burns rather than warms. A modern convention.

Where this comes from: The Old English poem's image of the sun as the seafarer's hope is the usual anchor for this reading. Many systems list sowilo as having no reversed form, on the grounds that the glyph is symmetrical. That holds for the three- and five-stroke forms but not the four-stroke one, which is the shape most rune sets actually use; see our page on reversed runes.

If you are considering a tattoo

Practical notes for anyone about to make this permanent.

Safe and common as a single rune in an obviously historical context. The doubled angular form is a different matter: that was the SS insignia, and it reads as one regardless of what was intended.