ᚱ *raidō: the Elder Futhark rune for r

Name: *raidō
Meaning: riding, journey
Name known from: Old English rād, Old Norse reið (all three poems); Gothic letter name reda in Codex Vindobonensis 795
Transliteration: r
Sound: /r/
Unicode: U+16B1 runic letter raido rad reid r

Line of descent

ᚱ*raidōElder Futhark →ᚱreiðYounger Futhark ᚱradAnglo-Saxon Futhorc

History

r is one of the runes whose shape most clearly follows a Latin letter, R. Unlike some others, it changed very little over the centuries. The same form serves in the Elder Futhark, the Younger Futhark, the English futhorc and the medieval runes.

The name *raidō "riding, journey" is well supported. All three poems name the rune with the word for riding: Old English rād, Old Norse reið. The Old English stanza jokes that riding is easy for a warrior sitting in the hall and hard work on a strong horse on the open road. Dickins recorded an alternative suggested by H. M. Chadwick, that the English name meant "harness, equipment", but the riding sense is generally accepted. The Norwegian poem spells it ræið, and its alliteration with rossom "horses" is one sign of the poem's Norwegian origin.

The sound was a trill or tap r. This is the "ordinary" r, distinct from the sound written by algiz, which came from Proto-Germanic z and only merged with r much later.

r appears in the oldest inscriptions: harja on the Vimose comb (c. 160) and raunijaz on the Øvre Stabu spearhead. Later examples include horna on the Gallehus horn and worahto "made" on the Tune stone.

In the rune poems

The Old English Rune Poem, stanza 5

Rad byþ on recyde rinca gehwylcum
sefte ond swiþhwæt, ðamðe sitteþ on ufan
meare mægenheardum ofer milpaþas.

Riding is, in the hall, easy for every warrior,
and very strenuous for the one who sits up on
a mighty, strong horse along the mile-paths.

The joke is that riding is easy to talk about indoors. Dickins records H. M. Chadwick's alternative, that rad here means harness or furnishings.

The Old Norwegian Rune Poem, stanza 5

Ræið kveða rossom væsta;
Reginn sló sværðet bæzta.

Riding, they say, is worst for horses;
Reginn forged the best sword.

Reginn, the smith of the Vǫlsung legend, forged the sword Gramr for Sigurðr. The alliteration of ræið and rossom marks the poem as Norwegian.

The Old Icelandic Rune Poem, stanza 5 · Latin gloss iter · chieftain word ræsir

Reið er sitjandi sæla
ok snúðig ferð
ok jórs erfiði.

Riding is the bliss of the one who sits
and a swift journey
and the toil of the horse.

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

Where it is found

Vimose comb (DR 207): harja
Øvre Stabu spearhead (N KJ31): raunija(z)
Tune stone (N KJ72): worahto

On inscriptions described on this site

Vimose comb Øvre Stabu spearhead Einang stone Tune stone Kylver stone Golden horns of Gallehus Björketorp runestone

Sources

Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata), signa DR 207, N KJ31, N KJ72
Dickins (1915), note to Old English rune poem l. 13, and introduction to the Norwegian poem