ELDER FUTHARK · TYR'S AETT · RUNE 18 OF 24
Berkano ᛒ
“Birch” · the sound b
IN A READING
Birth, growth, nurture.
REVERSED
Family troubles, stagnant growth, anxiety.
IN MAGIC
Fertility, new beginnings, healing and care.
In the rune poems
Three medieval poems give a short verse to each rune's name, the oldest record of what the names meant. What they stress for Berkano: the birch bears no fruit, yet its branches are lovely and high.
THE OLD ENGLISH RUNE POEM · ᛒ BEORC
Beorc byþ bleda leas,bereþ efne swa ðeahtanas butan tudder,biþ on telgum wlitig,heah on helmehrysted fægere,geloden leafum,lyfte getenge.
Known only from George Hickes's printing of 1705; the manuscript burned in the Cotton library fire of 1731.
THE OLD ICELANDIC RUNE POEM · ᛒ BJARKAN
Bjarkan er laufgat limok lítit tréok ungsamligr viðr.
For the sixteen runes of the Younger Futhark, in manuscripts from about 1500.
The verses are given in their own languages, Old English from Bruce Dickins's edition (1915) as transcribed on Wikisource, Old Icelandic as normalised in Wikipedia's article on the rune poems. Square brackets mark words the editors restored.
In the later rows
Anglo-Saxon futhorc
ᛒBeorc
Younger Futhark
ᛒBjarkan
Tyr's aett
The futhark falls into three rows of eight, the aettir. Berkano is number 2 of Tyr's aett:
Learn more in the lessons
- The Elder Futhark Runes · 15 min
- Runes in Magic · 15 min
- The Younger Futhark and the Runestones · 18 min