Ehwaz

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Name Proto-Germanic Anglo-Saxon
*Ehwaz E(o)h
"horse"
Shape Elder Futhark Futhorc
Unicode ᛖ
U+16D6
Transliteration e
Transcription e
IPA [e(ː)]
Position in rune-row 19

*Ehwaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the Elder Futhark e rune ᛖ, meaning "horse" (cognate to Latin equus, Sanskrit aśva, Avestan aspa and Old Irish ech). In the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, it is continued as ᛖ eh (properly eoh, but spelled without the diphthong to avoid confusion with ᛇ ēoh "yew").

The Proto-Germanic vowel system was asymmetric and unstable. The difference between the long vowels expressed by ᛖ e and ᛇ ï (sometimes transcribed as *ē1 and *ē2) were lost. The Younger Futhark continues neither, lacking a letter expressing e altogether. The Anglo-Saxon futhorc faithfully preserved all Elder futhorc staves, but assigned new sound values to the redundant ones, futhorc ēoh expressing a diphthong.

In the case of the Gothic alphabet, where the names of the runes were re-applied to letters derived from the Greek alphabet, the letter 𐌴 e was named aiƕus "horse" as well (note that in Gothic orthography, ai represents monophthongic /e/).

[edit] Anglo-Saxon rune poem

The Anglo-Saxon rune poem has:

ᛖ Eh byþ for eorlum æþelinga wyn,
hors hofum wlanc, ðær him hæleþ ymb[e]
welege on wicgum wrixlaþ spræce
and biþ unstyllum æfre frofur.
"The horse is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors.
A steed in the pride of its hoofs,
when rich men on horseback bandy words about it;
and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless."


Runes See also: Rune poems · Runestones · Runology · Runic divination
Elder Fuþark: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛞ ᛟ          
Anglo-Saxon Fuþorc: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚩ o ᚱ ᚳ c ᚷ ȝ ᚹ ᚻ ᚾ ᛁ ᛄ ᛇ eo ᛈ ᛉ x ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛝ ᛞ ᛟ œ   ᚪ a ᚫ æ ᚣ y ᛠ ea
Younger Fuþark: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚬ ą ᚱ ᚴ     ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ a       ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ   ᛘ ᛚ       ᛦ ʀ        
Transliteration: f u þ a r k g w · h n i j ï p z s · t b e m l ŋ d o