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Rune - 6 dictionary results

rune

1 [roon]

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–noun

1.	any of the characters of certain ancient alphabets, as of a script used for writing the Germanic languages, esp. of Scandinavia and Britain, from c200 to c1200, or a script used for inscriptions in a Turkic language of the 6th to 8th centuries from the area near the Orkhon River in Mongolia.

2.	something written or inscribed in such characters.

3.	an aphorism, poem, or saying with mystical meaning or for use in casting a spell.

Origin:
1675–85; < ON rūn a secret, writing, runic character; c. OE rūn (ME rune, obs. E roun). See round ²

Related forms:

runelike, adjective

rune

2 [roon]

–noun Literary.

a poem, song, or verse.

Origin:
1865–70; < Finnish runo poem, canto < Scand. See rune ¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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rune¹ (rōōn)

1. Any of the characters in several alphabets used by ancient Germanic peoples from the 3rd to the 13th century.
2. A similar character in another alphabet, sometimes believed to have magic powers.
A poem or incantation of mysterious significance, especially a magic charm.

[Old Norse or Old English rūn.]

Word History: Among early peoples writing was a serious thing, full of magical power. In its only reference to writing, the Iliad calls it "baneful signs." The Germanic peoples used a runic alphabet as their form of writing, using it to identify combs or helmets, make calendars, encode secret messages, and mark funeral monuments. Runes were also employed in casting spells, as to gain a kiss from a sweetheart or to make an enemy's gut burst. In casting a spell the writing of the runes was accompanied by a mumbled or chanted prayer or curse, also called a rune, to make the magic work. These two meanings also appear in Old English rūn, the ancestor of our word. The direct descendants of Old English rūn are the archaic verb round, "whisper, talk in secret," and the obsolete noun roun, "whispering, secret talk." The use of the word to refer to inscribed runic characters apparently disappeared in the late 14th or early 15th century but was revived by Danish writers on Germanic antiquities, who adopted it from Old Norse toward the end of the 17th century. Appropriately enough, this sense of rune, which had faded away like a whisper, reappeared from the mists of the past.

rune² (rōōn)

n. A Finnish poem or section of a poem.

[Finnish runo, of Germanic origin.]

Rune

Rune\ (r[udd]n), n. [AS. r[=u]n a rune, a secret, a mystery; akin to Icel. r[=u]n, OHG. & Goth. r[=u]na a secret, secret colloquy, G. & Dan. rune rune, and probably to Gr. 'ereyna^n to search for. Cf. Roun to whisper.]

1. A letter, or character, belonging to the written language of the ancient Norsemen, or Scandinavians; in a wider sense, applied to the letters of the ancient nations of Northern Europe in general.

Note: The Norsemen had a peculiar alphabet, consisting of sixteen letters, or characters, called runes, the origin of which is lost in the remotest antiquity. The signification of the word rune (mystery) seems to allude to the fact that originally only a few were acquainted with the use of these marks, and that they were mostly applied to secret tricks, witchcrafts and enchantments. But the runes were also used in communication by writing.

2. pl. Old Norse poetry expressed in runes.

Runes were upon his tongue, As on the warrior's sword. --Longfellow.

Rune stone, a stone bearing a runic inscription.

rune

O.E. run, rune "secret, mystery, dark mysterious statement," also "a runic letter," from P.Gmc. *runo (cf. O.N. run "a secret, magic sign, runic character," O.H.G. runa "a secret conversation, whisper," Goth. runa), from PIE *ru-no-, source of technical terms of magic in Gmc. and Celtic. The word entered M.E. as roun and by normal evolution would have become Mod.Eng. *rown, but it died out c.1450 when the use of runes did. The modern usage is from 1685, introduced by Ger. philologists from a Scand. source (cf. Dan. rune, from O.N. run). The runic alphabet is believed to have developed by 2c. C.E. from contact with Gk. writing, the alphabet modified to be more easily cut into wood or stone. Cf. also Runnymede. For some notes on the Germanic runes, see this page.

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