Wyrdseidr

ᚲ *kaunan (or *kēnaz)

Elder Futhark · position 6 (ætt 1) · ulcer, sore (Scandinavian); torch (English); the original name is uncertain

Name
*kaunan (or *kēnaz)
Meaning
ulcer, sore (Scandinavian); torch (English); the original name is uncertain
Name known from
Old Norse kaun 'sore' (Norwegian and Icelandic poems); Old English cēn 'torch' (rune poem; compare Old High German kien 'pine wood'); Gothic letter name chozma in Codex Vindobonensis 795
Transliteration
k
Sound
/k/
Unicode
U+16B2 runic letter kauna

Line of descent

ᚲ*kaunan (or *kēnaz)Elder Futhark →ᚴkaunYounger FutharkᚳcenAnglo-Saxon Futhorc

History

In its oldest form the k rune is a small angle, like a "less than" sign, set high or low on the line without a full stave. It is usually derived from Latin C. Over time it grew. Scandinavian carvers gave it a stave, which led to the Younger Futhark ᚴ, and English carvers made it the cen rune ᚳ.

The name is one of the uncertain ones, because the traditions disagree. The Norwegian and Icelandic poems call it kaun "sore, ulcer", the bane of children. The Old English poem calls it cēn and describes a torch burning in a hall. Handbooks give either *kaunan or *kēnaz (and other forms), and none is certain. The Gothic letter name chozma fits neither well.

The first-person pronoun ek "I" is common in early runic texts, and many inscriptions with k use it. The Gallehus horn begins ek hlewagastiz, and the Tune stone and the Lindholm bone piece begin ek too. On the Kylver stone the rune stands sixth, completing the sequence that gives the row its name.

In the Younger Futhark the rune also wrote g and ŋ, after gebo was dropped. In England, sound changes split c into a back and a fronted sound, and a new rune, calc, was eventually made for back k.

In the rune poems

The Old English Rune Poem, stanza 6
Cen byþ cwicera gehwam, cuþ on fyre
blac ond beorhtlic, byrneþ oftust
ðær hi æþelingas inne restaþ.
The torch is known to every living being by its fire,
shining and bright; it burns most often
where princes rest indoors.
Cen is found only as this rune's name; 'torch' is inferred from Old High German kien 'pine wood, torch' and from the stanza itself.
The Old Norwegian Rune Poem, stanza 6
Kaun er barna bǫlvan;
bǫl gørver nán fǫlvan.
A sore is the bane of children;
harm makes a corpse pale.
Bǫlvan is Magnus Olsen's emendation, which Dickins accepted for the first line. He kept the manuscript's nán 'corpse' in the second.
The Old Icelandic Rune Poem, stanza 6 · Latin gloss flagella · chieftain word konungr
Kaun er barna böl
ok bardaga [för]
ok holdfúa hús.
A sore is the bane of children
and a course of affliction
and the house of rotting flesh.
The second line is uncertain. Most manuscripts have only bardagi, and för is supplied from one of Jón Ólafsson's copies. The translation follows Bugge's understanding, 'a place where pain dwells'.

Original text from the public-domain editions named on each poem's page; translations are our own.

Where it is found

  • Gallehus horn (DR 12): ek hlewagastiz
  • Tune stone (N KJ72): ek wiwaz
  • Kylver stone (G 88), position 6

On inscriptions described on this site

Tune stoneKylver stoneGolden horns of Gallehus

Sources

  • Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata), signa DR 12, N KJ72, G 88
  • Dickins (1915), note to Old English rune poem l. 16 (Gothic chozma)
  • Wikipedia, 'Kaunan' and 'Elder Futhark' (checked 2026-10-26)
← ᚱ*raidō*gebōᚷ →