ᛣ calc

Line of descent

History

Calc was invented to solve a problem created by sound change. In Old English, c before front vowels became palatal, moving toward the ch of church, while elsewhere it stayed a hard k. The traditional rune cen covered both. Northumbrian carvers created calc for the hard sound. It was given a new shape. Wikipedia's survey of English runes states that there is little doubt calc and gar are modified forms of cen and gyfu.

The clearest example is the Ruthwell Cross, which spells krist and kwomu with calc but ic "I" with cen. Calc also appears on the Bramham Moor and Kingmoor rings. A variant, ᛤ, occurs only on the Ruthwell Cross, where it seems to write k before a vowel that had been fronted. Dickins noted that these runes do not appear on the Seax of Beagnoth or in southern inscriptions, and concluded that they were Northumbrian.

The name's meaning is not known. Proposals include "chalk", "chalice" (Latin calix) and "sandal" (Latin calceus). Dickins noted that the name does not appear in Hickes and comes from the manuscripts Cotton Domitian A.ix and Galba A.ii.

Where it is found

• Ruthwell Cross: krist, kwomu; variant ᛤ only here
• Bramham Moor and Kingmoor rings
• Cotton Domitian A.ix (name calc)

Sources

• Dickins (1915), pp. 14–15, note to v. 16, and p. 22, note to v. 91.
• Wikipedia, 'Anglo-Saxon runes' (citing Page 1999, pp. 41–42) and 'Ruthwell Cross', checked 2026-10.