Bind rune

A bind rune (Icelandic: bandrún) is a ligature of two or more runes. They are extremely rare in Viking Age inscriptions, but are common in earlier (Proto-Norse) and later (medieval) inscriptions.

On some runestones, bind runes may have been ornamental and used to highlight the name of the carver.

There are two types of bind runes. Normal bind runes are formed of two (or rarely three) adjacent runes which are joined together to form a single conjoined glyph, usually sharing a common vertical stroke (see Hadda example below). Another type of bind rune called a same-stave rune, which is common in Scandinavian runic inscriptions but does not occur at all in Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions, is formed by several runic letters written sequentially along a long common stemline (see þ=r=u=t=a=R= =þ=i=a=k=n example shown above). In the latter cases the long bind rune stemline may be incorporated into an image on the rune stone, for example as a ship's mast on runestones Sö 158 at Ärsta and Sö 352 in Linga, Södermanland, or as the waves under a ship on DR 220 in Sønder Kirkeby, Denmark.

Examples found in Elder Futhark inscriptions include:

Bind runes are not common in Anglo-Saxon inscriptions, but double ligatures do sometimes occur, and triple ligatures may rarely occur. The following are examples of bind-runes that have been identified in Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions:

The a and the þ runes in ligature on the Rök Runestone

The s and k runes in ligature in the Old Norse word skipari ("sailor") on the Tuna Runestone in Småland

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