Wyrdseidr

ᚬ óss

Younger Futhark · position 4 · god (one of the Æsir); also river-mouth

Name
óss
Meaning
god (one of the Æsir); also river-mouth
Transliteration
o
Sounds
nasal ą at first; later o (and ǫ, ø)
Unicode
U+16AC runic letter long-branch-oss o

Line of descent

ᚨ*ansuzElder Futhark→ ᚬóssYounger Futhark

History

The fourth rune shows how a sound change could carry a rune away from its original value. Its ancestor is the Elder Futhark a rune, ansuz, named *ansuz "god". In Proto-Norse the n in this word was lost and the preceding vowel became nasal, *ansuz > *ą́suʀ, later Old Norse áss/óss. Because a rune's value followed the first sound of its name, the rune came to stand for a nasal ą and no longer for plain a. Plain a was then written with the new a rune descended from jera (see ár). When nasal ą merged with o, this rune became the usual way to write o. Transliteration varies: many handbooks write ą for Viking Age texts, and Rundata uses o.

The long-branch form ᚬ has two branches crossing the stave. The short-twig form ᚭ keeps only one side. Rök (Ög 136) spells standa as stonta, with this rune for the nasal vowel before n.

The poems understand the name in two ways. In the Icelandic poem óss is the god, described with kennings for Óðinn (Odin) and glossed with Jupiter. In the Norwegian poem it is read as the homonym óss "river-mouth, estuary": "the way of most journeys". That stanza is metrically defective in Worm's copy, and its second line depends on an editorial emendation. Dickins thought the shift away from "god" might reflect church influence, as perhaps with English os. That is a suggestion, not a demonstrated fact.

In the medieval period the long-branch and short-twig forms divided the work, with ᚯ (descended from the long-branch form) used for ø and ᚮ or ᚭ for o.

In the rune poems

The Old Norwegian Rune Poem, stanza 4
Óss er flæstra færða
fǫr; en skalpr er sværða.
The river-mouth is the way of most journeys;
but the scabbard is the way of swords.
The text is emended: Worm's version lacks a syllable, and Kålund supplied fǫr 'way, passage'. The old name meant a god (Proto-Norse *ansuz); here óss is read as 'estuary, river-mouth'.
The Old Icelandic Rune Poem, stanza 4 · Latin gloss Jupiter · chieftain word oddviti
Óss er aldingautr
ok ásgarðs jǫfurr,
ok valhallar vísi.
The god is the ancient Gautr
and prince of Ásgarðr
and leader of Valhǫll.
Here óss keeps its old meaning 'god', and all three kennings describe Óðinn (Odin). Gautr is one of Óðinn's names. Note the different reading in the Norwegian poem.

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

Where it is found

  • Rök stone (Ög 136): stonta 'stand', nasal a before n
  • Jelling stone 2 (DR 42): þourui 'Þorwi', o for o
  • Gørlev stone (DR 239), position 4 of the row fuþork…

On inscriptions described on this site

Rök runestoneLarge Jelling stone (Harald's stone)

Sources

  • Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata), signa Ög 136, DR 42, DR 239
  • Dickins (1915), notes to the Norwegian poem, stanza 4
  • Wikipedia: Younger Futhark; Medieval runes (checked 2026-10-26)
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