Name | ||||||
"god" | "god" | "oak" | "ash" | "god" | ||
Shape | Elder Futhark | Futhorc | Younger Futhark | |||
Unicode | ᚨ
U+16A8
|
ᚩ
U+16A9
|
ᚪ
U+16AA
|
ᚫ
U+16AB
|
ᚬ
U+16AC
|
ᚭ
U+16AD
|
Transliteration | a | o | a | æ | o | |
Transcription | a | o | a | æ | ą, o | |
IPA | [a(ː)] | [o(ː)] | [ɑ(ː)] | [æ(ː)] | [ɑ̃], [o(ː)] | |
Position in rune-row | 4 | 4 | 25 | 26 | 4 |
Ansuz is the conventional name given to the a-rune of the Elder Futhark, ᚨ. The name is based on Proto-Germanic *ansuz, denoting a deity belonging to the principal pantheon in Germanic paganism.
The shape of the rune is likely from Neo-Etruscan a (), like Latin A ultimately from Phoenician aleph.
In the Norwegian rune poem, óss is given a meaning of "estuary" while in the Anglo-Saxon one, ōs ᚩ takes the Latin meaning of "mouth". The Younger Futhark rune is transliterated as ą to distinguish it from the new ár rune (ᛅ), which continues the jēran rune after loss of prevocalic *j- in Proto-Norse *jár (Old Saxon jār).
Since the name of a is attested in the Gothic alphabet as ahsa or aza, the common Germanic name of the rune may thus either have been *ansuz "god", or *ahsam "ear (of wheat)".