Óss
The fourth Younger Futhark rune, transliterated ą. It wrote a nasal vowel that Old Norse later lost, and its name means either "a god" or "river-mouth" depending on which rune poem you read.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᚬU+16AC
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER LONG-BRANCH-OSS O
- Alphabet
- Younger Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 800 – 1100 (The Viking Age)
- Position
- 4, ætt 1
- Transliteration
- ą
- Sound value
- /ã/ , /o/
- Name
- óss: a god (Icelandic poem) or river-mouth (Norwegian poem)Attested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| óss | Old Norse | a god (Icelandic poem) or river-mouth (Norwegian poem) | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Descends from Elder Futhark *ansuz, "a god". The Icelandic poem preserves that sense and identifies the god as Óðinn by kenning, without ever using the name; the Norwegian poem has taken the homophone óss, "river-mouth", instead. The two traditions had already diverged by the time either was written down.
Sound value
Originally the nasal vowel /ã/, conventionally transliterated ą, a sound Old Norse inherited and then lost. As the nasal quality faded the rune drifted towards /o/, which is where medieval runes ended up.
Variant forms
Alternative shapes for the same rune across regions and periods.
Short-twig óss
U+16AD
The simplified form used in the short-twig tradition.
Medieval o-rune
U+16AE
The later medieval form, once the nasal vowel had merged away.
Historical use
The presence or absence of the nasal distinction is one of the tools used to date and localise inscriptions, since the sound disappeared at different times in different places. Its behaviour is diagnostic rather than decorative.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Óss er flæstra færða fǫr; en skalpr er sværða.The river-mouth is the way of most journeys; but the scabbard is that of swords.(our translation)
Here óss means "river-mouth", not "god": the Norwegian poem has taken the homophone. The Icelandic poem, by contrast, keeps the god, and its kennings identify him as Óðinn.
Óss er algingautr ok ásgarðs jöfurr ok valhallar vísi.The god is the ancient Gautr and the ruler of Ásgarðr and the lord of Valhǫll.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: Jupiter and oddviti ("chief"). Unlike the Norwegian poem, the Icelandic poem keeps the old association of this rune with a god, and says which god, though never by name: Gautr is a by-name of Óðinn, and the ruler of Ásgarðr and lord of Valhǫll can be nobody else. The name Óðinn itself does not occur in the stanza. Do not lean on the Latin tag for that identification, though. Jupiter here stands for the chief god rather than for Óðinn specifically: the conventional Roman equivalent for Óðinn is Mercury, which is why his day is Wednesday, dies Mercurii, while Jupiter conventionally answers to Þórr. The glosses in this poem are ad hoc: the same list gives Saturnus for þurs.
Os byþ ordfruma ælere spræce, wisdomes wraþu ond witena frofur and eorla gehwam eadnys ond tohiht.The mouth is the origin of all speech, the support of wisdom and a comfort to the wise, and to every noble a blessing and a hope.(our translation)
Here os is Latin ōs, "mouth": a learned reinterpretation of the inherited name *ansuz, "a god". The stanza is evidence for Christian-era wordplay, not for the rune's original meaning.
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
The only runestone carrying a complete skaldic stanza in dróttkvætt metre: evidence that runic writing could handle the most demanding poetry of the age.
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 Younger Futhark separately. Inventing a reading for Óss 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.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this rune that circulate widely and do not hold up.
This rune is not simply "the o-rune" in the Viking Age. It began as a nasal vowel, and treating it as a plain o flattens a distinction that scribes were still marking.
The same rune in other alphabets
Runes descended from the same original character, so you can follow it through time.
The rest of ætt 1
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.