ELDER FUTHARK · FREYR'S AETT · RUNE 6 OF 24
Kenaz ᚲ
“Torch” · the sound k
IN A READING
Insight, craft, illumination.
REVERSED
Lost creativity, false hope, darkness.
IN MAGIC
Creativity, learning, revealing what is hidden.
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 Kenaz: the torch burns bright where nobles rest within.
THE OLD ENGLISH RUNE POEM · ᚳ CEN
Cen byþ cwicera gehwam,cuþ on fyreblac ond beorhtlic,byrneþ oftustðær hi æþelingasinne restaþ.
Known only from George Hickes's printing of 1705; the manuscript burned in the Cotton library fire of 1731.
THE OLD ICELANDIC RUNE POEM · ᚴ KAUN
Kaun er barna bölok bardaga [för]ok holdfúa hús.
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
ᚳCen
Younger Futhark
ᚴKaun
Freyr's aett
The futhark falls into three rows of eight, the aettir. Kenaz is number 6 of Freyr'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