Berkanan

Name	Proto-Germanic	Old English	Old Norse
	*Berkanan	Beorc	Bjarkan
	"birch"	"birch"/"poplar"?	"birch"
Shape	Elder Futhark	Futhorc	Younger Futhark
Shape
Unicode	ᛒ U+16D2		ᛒ U+16D2	ᛓ U+16D3
Transliteration	b
Transcription	b
IPA	[β]	[b]	[b], [p]
Position in rune-row	18		13

Berkanan is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the b rune ᛒ, meaning "birch". In the Younger Futhark it is called Bjarkan in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems. In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem it is called beorc ("birch" or "poplar"). The corresponding Gothic letter is 𐌱 b, named bairkan.

The letter shape is likely directly based on Old Italic 𐌁, whence comes also the Latin letter B.

The rune is recorded in all three rune poems:

Rune Poem:^[1]	English Translation:
Old Norwegian ᛒ Bjarkan er laufgrønstr líma; Loki bar flærða tíma.	Birch has the greenest leaves of any shrub; Loki was fortunate in his deceit.
Old Icelandic ᛒ Bjarkan er laufgat lim ok lítit tré ok ungsamligr viðr.	Birch is a leafy twig and little tree and fresh young shrub.
Anglo-Saxon ᛒ Beorc bẏþ bleda leas, bereþ efne sƿa ðeah tanas butan tudder, biþ on telgum ƿlitig, heah on helme hrẏsted fægere, geloden leafum, lẏfte getenge.	The poplar bears no fruit; yet without seed it brings forth suckers, for it is generated from its leaves. Splendid are its branches and gloriously adorned its lofty crown which reaches to the skies.

References

^ Original poems and translation from the Rune Poem Page Archived 1999-05-01 at the Wayback Machine.

[1] Original poems and translation from the Rune Poem Page Archived 1999-05-01 at the Wayback Machine.

[1]

See also

References