Ætt 2 · Pos. 8
Name
The sun.
Meaning
In the English poem the sun guides sailors safe to land. The Nordic poems make it the light over the land, a bright wheel among the clouds, the warmth that breaks the ice. In Völuspá the Æsir set it and the moon on their courses, so the years can be counted. In Alvíssmál humans, Æsir, jotnar, elves and dwarves each have their own name for it: one light running through every layer of the tree’s axis, holding the world in order. In Sigrdrífumál runes are carved on the shield before it and on the horses that draw it.
The poems
English Rune Poem
Sun is to seafarers
always a hope,
when they journey
over the fishes’ bath,
until the sea-steed
brings them to land.
Icelandic Rune Poem
Sun is the shield of the clouds,
and a shining wheel,
and the bane of ice.
Norwegian Rune Poem
Sun is the light of the lands;
I bow to the holy judgement.
Swedish Rune Poem
Sun is highest in the heavens.
