- Name
- *perþ- (meaning unknown)
- Meaning
- unknown; a gaming piece, a dice cup and a pear tree have been proposed
- Name known from
- Old English peorð (rune poem only); Gothic letter name pertra in Codex Vindobonensis 795; no Scandinavian name
- Transliteration
- p
- Sound
- /p/
- Unicode
U+16C8runic letter pertho peorth p
Line of descent
History
p was a rare sound in Proto-Germanic. Inherited Indo-European p had become f under Grimm's law, so p occurred mainly in loanwords and a few other words. The rune is correspondingly rare. It is not found in the earliest inscriptions and is known almost entirely from rune-rows. The shape, like a b with its pockets opened outward or a cup on its side, has been compared with a letter in the Camunic alphabet of the Alps. It has also been explained as a variant of b (Looijenga) or as a Germanic invention.
The name is the least certain in the row. The Old English poem calls it peorð and describes "play and laughter among the proud, where warriors sit in the beer-hall". The word peorð occurs nowhere else. The Gothic letter name pertra is related but equally obscure. Suggestions include a gaming piece or dice cup, which fits the stanza, and a pear tree, which assumes a loan from Latin pirum. None is proven. The reconstruction *perþ- or *perþō should be read as an unknown word.
Rune-rows also show that its place was not fixed. The Kylver stone has p before eihwaz (13th), while the Vadstena, Mariedamm and Grumpan bracteates put it after (14th). The Kylver order is the older of the two attestations, but handbook convention follows the bracteates.
The rune was dropped in Scandinavia, where p was written with bjarkan. It survived in England as peorð, where Dickins noted it occurs on coins and in manuscripts but in no stone inscription he knew.
In the rune poems
wlancum [on middum], ðar wigan sittaþ
on beorsele bliþe ætsomne.
among the proud, where warriors sit
in the beer-hall, cheerful together.
Original text from the public-domain editions named on each poem's page; translations are our own.
Where it is found
- Kylver stone (G 88), position 13 (before ï)
- Vadstena (Ög 178) and Mariedamm (Nä 10) bracteates, position 14
- Grumpan bracteate (Vg 207), position 14, damaged
On inscriptions described on this site
Sources
- Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata), signa G 88, Ög 178, Nä 10, Vg 207
- Dickins (1915), note to Old English rune poem l. 38
- Wikipedia, 'Peorð', 'Kylver Stone' and 'Elder Futhark' (checked 2026-10-26)