Reið
Also written Reid
The fifth Younger Futhark rune, transliterated r. Its name means riding or a journey, and since all three rune poems agree on that, it is one of the most stable names in the tradition.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᚱU+16B1
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER RAIDO RAD REID R
- Alphabet
- Younger Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 800 – 1100 (The Viking Age)
- Position
- 5, ætt 1
- Transliteration
- r
- Sound value
- /r/
- Name
- reið: riding; a carriageAttested
Names
What the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
reið, Old Norse
Attestedriding; a carriage
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Continues Elder Futhark *raidō without disruption. All three rune poems agree on the sense of riding or a journey, which makes this one of the most stable rune names across the whole tradition.
Sound value
A trilled /r/. Kept distinct from the ʀ written by ýr until the two sounds merged, which happened over the course of the Viking Age and is one of the standard dating criteria for inscriptions.
Historical use
Very common. Because r and ʀ merged gradually, the way a carver uses this rune versus ýr is one of the better indicators of when and where an inscription was made.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Ræið kveða rossom væsta; Reginn sló sværðet bæzta.Riding is said to be worst for horses; Reginn forged the finest sword.(our translation)
Reið er sitjandi sæla ok snúðig ferð ok jórs erfiði.Riding is a blessed sitting and a swift journey and the toil of the horse.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: iter ("journey") and ræsir ("ruler").
Rad byþ on recyde rinca gehwylcum sefte ond swiþhwæt, ðamðe sitteþ on ufan meare mægenheardum ofer milpaþas.Riding is easy for any warrior indoors, and very strenuous for the one who sits astride a powerful horse out on the long roads.(our translation)
Attested in
Objects and monuments on which this rune can be seen.
A memorial to a member of the Ingvar expedition, ending in verse: they fed the eagle far in the east, and died in the south in Serkland.
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. Any reading for Reið would have to be invented to fill the space, and invented meanings are what this site exists to flag. The rune's 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.
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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.