Etymology

rune

R1U1N1E1

Today it means: A letter, or character, used in the written language of various ancient Germanic peoples, especially the Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons. Full definition →

Old Norse rún ← Proto-Norse ᚱᚢᚾᛟ (runo) ← Proto-Germanic *rūnǭ
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The story

  1. Proto-Celtic*rūnābor.?
  2. Proto-Germanic*rūnō
  3. Proto-Germanic*rūnǭ
  4. Proto-Norseᚱᚢᚾᛟ (runo)
  5. Old Norserún
  6. English todayrune

Borrowed from Old Norse rún, which is from Proto-Germanic *rūnō (“letter, literature, secret”), which is borrowed either from Proto-Celtic *rūnā or from the same source as it; compare Dutch rune, German Rune, Raune, Danish rune and Swedish runa. Compare roun. ; Finnic epic poem ; "code point"

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*rūnō all →

roun

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.