- Name
- beorc
- Meaning
- birch (in the poem perhaps poplar)
- Transliteration
- b
- Sound
- /b/
- Unicode
U+16D2runic letter berkanan beorc bjarkan b
Line of descent
History
The b rune keeps its elder shape, two pointed loops on an upright. Its English name is beorc "birch", which matches Old Norse bjarkan (found only as a rune name) and bjǫrk "birch". Together they support the elder name *berkanan.
The rune poem causes a difficulty. It describes a tree that is "without fruit" but "bears shoots without seed", tall and leafy, "reaching to the sky". Birches seed freely. Dickins pointed out that Old English glossaries use birce and byrc to gloss Latin populus "poplar", and that poplars are usually propagated from suckers rather than seed. He concluded that the poet probably meant the grey poplar. Whether the poet was wrong about birches or used the name in a wider sense, the stanza shows that rune names were explained by learned readers, not only passed down unchanged.
Inscriptions with b include fergenberig and ban "bone" on the front of the Franks Casket, and gibroþær on its left side. The Thornhill III stone has becun "monument" and bergi "mound".
In the rune poems
tanas butan tudder, biþ on telgum wlitig,
heah on helme hrysted fægere,
geloden leafum, lyfte getenge.
shoots without seed; it is lovely in its boughs,
high in its crown, finely adorned,
laden with leaves, reaching to the sky.
Original text from the public-domain editions named on each poem's page; translations are our own.
Where it is found
- Seax of Beagnoth, position 18, and the name beagnoþ on the same blade
- Franks Casket, front panel: fergenberig, ban
- Thornhill III, Yorkshire: becun on bergi
On inscriptions described on this site
Sources
- Dickins (1915), pp. 4 (Thornhill III), 18–19 and note to v. 51.
- Wikipedia, 'Seax of Beagnoth', checked 2026-10.