- Name
- cen
- Meaning
- torch (inferred; the word is known only as this rune's name)
- Transliteration
- c
- Sound
- /k/; palatalised /tʃ/ (as in church) before front vowels
- Unicode
U+16B3runic letter cen
Line of descent
History
The sixth rune of the elder row, *kaunan, was a small angle shaped like <. In England it was lengthened into an upright with a short branch. This shape is the futhorc's c. Its name, cen, occurs only as a rune name. "Torch" comes from Old High German kien "pine wood, torch" and from the rune poem, which describes a bright flame burning where princes sit indoors. The Scandinavian name for the same rune, kaun "sore", is unrelated.
The rune had to cover a sound that split. In Old English, k before front vowels shifted toward the ch of church, and the same letter, Latin or runic, was used for both sounds. Northumbrian carvers later solved the problem by adding calc for the hard k. That left c free for the softened sound. The Ruthwell Cross shows the division clearly: ic "I" is written with c, while krist and kwomu use calc.
Outside Northumbria c stayed the general sign. It appears in fisc and sric on the front of the Franks Casket and in the name of Cynewulf, whose runic signatures begin with this rune. Dickins traced the change in shape through the lance shaft from Kragehul and the Chessel Down mount.
In the rune poems
blac ond beorhtlic, byrneþ oftust
ðær hi æþelingas inne restaþ.
shining and bright; it burns most often
where princes rest indoors.
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 6
- Franks Casket, front panel: fisc, sric
- Ruthwell Cross: ic 'I' (palatal), contrasted with calc in krist
On inscriptions described on this site
Sources
- Dickins (1915), pp. 14–15 and note to v. 16.
- Wikipedia, 'Ruthwell Cross' and 'Anglo-Saxon runes', checked 2026-10.