ELDER FUTHARK · FREYR'S AETT · RUNE 5 OF 24
Raidho ᚱ
“Riding” · the sound r
IN A READING
Journey, rhythm, right action.
REVERSED
Disrupted travel, stagnation, injustice.
IN MAGIC
Safe travel; bringing order and timing to plans.
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 Raidho: riding seems easy indoors — and hard on a long road.
THE OLD ENGLISH RUNE POEM · ᚱ RAD
Rad byþ on recyderinca gehwylcumsefte ond swiþhwæt,ðamðe sitteþ on ufanmeare mægenheardumofer milpaþas.
Known only from George Hickes's printing of 1705; the manuscript burned in the Cotton library fire of 1731.
THE OLD ICELANDIC RUNE POEM · ᚱ REIÐ
Reið er sitjandi sælaok snúðig ferðok jórs erfiði.
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
ᚱRad
Younger Futhark
ᚱReið
Freyr's aett
The futhark falls into three rows of eight, the aettir. Raidho is number 5 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