MANNAZ m Runic Awakening Mannaz Literal meaning: Human, mankind Rune Names The Elder Futhark has 24 runes. Archaeology gifted us Sound: ‘m’ their symbols and linguistics gifted as their names. They Pronunciation: mannaz / mahn-arz are ‘Proto-Germanic’ – an inferred language which lin- guists know must have existed as the common ancestor to later Germanic tongues (English, German, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic and Dutch).
Other than the shape of the rune itself, the oldest sources of rune knowledge are the RUNE POEMS. If the Elder Futhark had its own rune poems these are now lost to us—so we use the rune poems from the later Futharks to guide us. The Old English rune poem (circa 8th/ 9th century) comes from a 10th century manuscript and has poems for 29 of the runes of the Anglo Sax- on Futhark. The Old Norse (Norwegian) rune poem comes from a 17th century copy of a 13th century manuscript and has 16 poems for the Old Norse Futhark. The Old Icelandic Rune Poem is recorded across four manuscripts, the earliest dating to the 15th century; it also has 16 poems. For this reason some Elder Futhark runes have only one poem.
Old English: mann meaning man or mankind Man byþ on myrgþe his māgan lēof Man in his glee is dear to his kin sceal þēah ānra gehwylc ōðrum though each must betray his fellows swīcan when the Drihten decrees for ðām dryhten wyle dome sine the pitiful flesh condemned to the earth. þæt earme flǣsc eorþan betǣcan
Translated by Johnson & Wallis (2005) p.362
Old Norse Rune Poem: maðr meaning ‘man’ Maðr zer moldar auki Man is earth’s increase; mikil er greip á hauki the hawk’s grasp is great. Translated by Pollington (2008) p.53
Old Icelandic: maðr meaning ‘man’ Maðr er manns gaman ok Man is man’s pleasure and mould’s increase and a ship’s embel- moldar auki ok skipa skreytir lisher human – “generous one” Translated by Plowright (2006) p.85
Translations used for Runic Awakening come from Stephen Pollington’s Rudiments of Runelore (2008) Anglo-Saxon Books, Sweyn Plowright (2006) The Rune Primer: A Down-to-Earth Guide to Runes (2006) Rune-Net, Edred Thorsson A Handbook of Rune Magic, (1984) Weiser Books, Edred Thorsson Runelore (1987) Samuel Weiser, Nathan J. Johnson and Robert J. Wallis Galdrbok: Practical Heathen Runecrqft, Shamanism and Magic, The Wykenham Press (2000)
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