![]() ![]() ![]() Specifically, the latter two poems urge us to beware of the dividing power of wealth, citing wealth as a “source of discord among kinsmen.” The Anglo-Saxon poem uses Christian imagery to encourage one to give away one’s wealth (a common theme in the Abrahamic faiths) while the Icelandic and Norwegian poems both contain a warning about the nature of wealth. Conveniently, not only is fehu attested to in all three runic poems, it’s meaning is also agreed upon in all three poems: wealth. Wealth is a source of discord among kinsmen įehu is the first rune of the Elder Futhark and represents the f sound within the alphabet. If he wish to gain honour in the sight of the Lord. Sceal ðeah manna gehwylc miclun hyt dælan Meaning: “wealth, cattle” Original Text in Poems: But, if one can take control, then that untamed beast inside can become a powerful ally or a cleansing storm. Sometimes that wild cattle has horns and is difficult to capture left to its own devices, Ur can easily become the “ruin of the hay-harvest”. When Ur appears in a spread, I consider it a symbol of the querent’s untapped potential, a messy beast yet to be wrangled and the wealth inside which we may not even be aware we possess. Where Fehu is the domesticated “mobile wealth,” such as cattle and sheep, Ur is the auroch, a savage and proud wild bovine yet to be brought low by mankind’s harness and fences. I tend to think of Fehu and Ur as complimentary runes. The Icelandic poem calls Ur “rain” and proclaims it to be the “lamentation of the clouds and ruin of the hay-harvest and abomination of the shepherd,” while the Norwegian poem warns that slag “comes from bad iron.” I generally agree with that conclusion, however one should not ignore or discount the layers of meaning afforded to Ur by the Icelandic and Norwegian poems. Most sources and modern interpretations that I have read accept “auroch” as the meaning for Ur, as a rune for “water,” “ice,” and “hail” already exists within the Futhark, making “slag” and “rain” all but unnecessary. It’s possible the Norwegian word for “slag”, which is the stony liquid byproduct of smelting or refining ore, could be derived from “water/ūrą,” so perhaps the Icelandic and Norwegian meanings are distantly related…but slag and rain are completely different concepts. The Anglo- Saxon poem, written in Old English, refers to this rune as “auroch,” while the Icelandic poem refers to Ur as “rain,” and the Norwegian poem speaks of “dross/slag.”Īll of these are completely different things! Why you do dis, rune poems?! These words don’t even have the same roots! The Old English word for “auroch” and the Icelandic word for “rain” come from two different Proto-Germanic words, “ūruz” and “ūrą“ respectively, and from an etymological sense, these words are not related in a way we can currently trace. Though Ur has a stanza in each rune poem, the poems all contains a different meaning for this rune, making Ur one of the more complicated and nuanced of the runes. Ur, often Uruz or Ura, is the second rune of the Elder Futhark and represents the u sound within the alphabet. The reindeer often races over the frozen snow.Īnd abomination of the shepherd. It is a very savage beast and fights with its horns Ī great ranger of the moors, it is a creature of mettle. The aurochs is proud and has great horns Meaning: “wild cattle” or “water” Original Text in Poems:
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