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Article In: NOWELE
Vol. 79:2 (2026) ► pp.198–230

The creation of the Anglo-Saxon rune ēar

An assessment of five hypotheses based on grapho-phonological developments and the epigraphic and manuscript evidence

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Abstract
The present paper discusses five creation theories that view a bind-rune as the origin for the Anglo-Saxon rune ᛠ e͡a. This is preceded by necessary contextualisation: the development of the fuþorc until ca. 650 AD, the attestations of the e͡a-rune, the representation of diphthongs and consecutive vowels in the North Sea runic corpora, and the phonological pre-history and dialectal variety of inherited diphthongs and breaking in Old English. Each hypothesis, including the author’s own, is subsequently evaluated for its congruence with the available evidence, the reconstructed phonologies, and the assumptions that are required for the theory to be viable. The belief that ᛠ e͡a was created for the Ruthwell Cross is further supported while two creation theories appear equally plausible.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Phonology, graphematics and epigraphy
    • 2.1The Anglo-Saxon fuþorc
    • 2.2Development of the fuþorc until ca. 650 AD
    • 2.3Attestations of ᛠ e͡a
    • 2.4Representation of diphthongs and consecutive vowels in the NSGmc corpora
    • 2.5Historical phonology of PGmc *au and breaking in Old English dialects
  • 3.Assessing the creation hypotheses for ᛠ e͡a
    • 3.1An early bind-rune: ᚪ a + ᚩ o
    • 3.2Bind-rune: ᚫ æ + ᚩ o
    • 3.3Bind-rune: ᚫ æ + ᚪ a
    • 3.4Bind-rune: ᛖ e + ᚪ a
    • 3.5Bind-rune: ᛖ e + ᚩ o
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • Author queries
  • References
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