- Name
- *sōwilō
- Meaning
- sun
- Name known from
- Old English sigel, Old Norse sól (all three poems); Gothic letter name sugil in Codex Vindobonensis 795; compare Gothic sauil 'sun'
- Transliteration
- s
- Sound
- /s/
- Unicode
U+16CArunic letter sowilo s
Line of descent
History
The s rune is a zigzag. In early inscriptions it varies a great deal. It may have three, four or more strokes and be written either way round. From the 5th century the three-stroke form (ᛋ) became usual, and that is the form the Younger Futhark kept. Unicode encodes both shapes: ᛊ (SOWILO) and ᛋ (SIGEL / LONG-BRANCH-SOL). Its relation to Latin S is generally accepted.
The name *sōwilō "sun" is reconstructed from Old Norse sól, Old English sigel and the Gothic letter name sugil. All three poems describe the sun. The Old English poem calls it the hope of seafarers. The Norwegian calls it the light of the lands, and the Icelandic calls it the shield of the clouds and the destroyer of ice.
Examples include hlewagastiz on the Gallehus horn. On the Kylver stone, apart from the rune-row, a separate word sueus is written with the Younger-style three-stroke s. Its meaning is unknown.
The rune continued as sól in Scandinavia, with a short-twig form ᛌ, and as sigel in England. There it often takes a different, angular form; on the Thames seax it looks like ᚴ.
Modern use: the doubled sowilo was adopted as the emblem of the SS in the 1930s. That use is part of the rune's modern reception, not its early history (see modern rune meanings).
In the rune poems
ðonne hi hine feriaþ ofer fisces beþ,
oþ hi brimhengest bringeþ to lande.
when they make their way over the fish's bath,
until the sea-steed brings them to land.
lúti ek helgum dóme.
I bow to the holy judgement.
ok skínandi röðull
ok ísa aldrtregi.
and a shining disc
and the life-long grief of ice.
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): hlewagastiz
- Kylver stone (G 88), position 16, mirrored; also separate sueus
- Tune stone (N KJ72): staina 'stone'
On inscriptions described on this site
Sources
- Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata), signa DR 12, G 88, N KJ72
- Dickins (1915), note to Old English rune poem l. 45 (Gothic sugil)
- Wikipedia, 'Elder Futhark' and 'Kylver Stone' (checked 2026-10-26), for the stroke-count chronology