Ehwaz
Encyclopedia
*Ehwaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the Elder Futhark
e rune , meaning "horse
" (cognate to Latin equus
, Sanskrit aśva
, Avestan aspa and Old Irish ech). In the Anglo-Saxon futhorc
, it is continued as eh (properly eoh, but spelled without the diphthong to avoid confusion with ēoh
"yew").
The Proto-Germanic vowel system was asymmetric and unstable. The difference between the long vowels expressed by e and 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 e was named aíƕus "horse" as well (note that in Gothic orthography, represents monophthongic /e/).
has:
Elder Futhark
The Elder Futhark is the oldest form of the runic alphabet, used by Germanic tribes for Northwest Germanic and Migration period Germanic dialects of the 2nd to 8th centuries for inscriptions on artifacts such as jewellery, amulets, tools, weapons and runestones...
e rune , meaning "horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
" (cognate to Latin equus
Equus (genus)
Equus is a genus of animals in the family Equidae that includes horses, donkeys, and zebras. Within Equidae, Equus is the only extant genus. Like Equidae more broadly, Equus has numerous extinct species known only from fossils. This article deals primarily with the extant species.The term equine...
, Sanskrit aśva
Ashva
Aśvaḥ is the Sanskrit word for a "horse", one of the significant animals finding references in the Vedas as well as later Hindu scriptures. The corresponding Avestan term is aspa...
, Avestan aspa and Old Irish ech). In the Anglo-Saxon futhorc
Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
Futhorc , a runic alphabet used by the Anglo-Saxons, was descended from the Elder Futhark of 24 runes and contained between 26 and 33 characters. It was used probably from the fifth century onward, for recording Old English and Old Frisian....
, it is continued as eh (properly eoh, but spelled without the diphthong to avoid confusion with ēoh
Eihwaz
Eiwaz or Eihaz was a Proto-Germanic word for "yew", and the reconstructed name of the rune ....
"yew").
The Proto-Germanic vowel system was asymmetric and unstable. The difference between the long vowels expressed by e and ï (sometimes transcribed as *ē1 and *ē2) were lost. The Younger Futhark
Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...
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
Gothic alphabet
The Gothic alphabet is an alphabet for writing the Gothic language, created in the 4th century by Ulfilas for the purpose of translating the Christian Bible....
, where the names of the runes were re-applied to letters derived from the Greek alphabet, the letter e was named aíƕus "horse" as well (note that in Gothic orthography,
Anglo-Saxon rune poem
The Anglo-Saxon rune poemRune poem
The Rune Poems are three poems that list the letters of runic alphabets while providing an explanatory poetic stanza for each letter. Three different poems have been preserved: the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, the Norwegian Rune Poem, and the Icelandic Rune Poem.The Icelandic and Norwegian poems list 16...
has:
- 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."