Rune 18 of 24 · Tyr's aett
Berkanan
“birch” · sound: b
Can be drawn reversed when reversals are on.
Historical evidence
Old English beorc and Norse bjarkan, the birch. The Norse poems praise its green leaves and young twigs; the Old English poem describes a tree (birch, or perhaps poplar) that bears no fruit yet sends up new shoots.
The name Berkanan is a modern reconstruction of the Proto-Germanic name; the Elder Futhark’s own names are not recorded.
In the rune poems
Original
Beorc byþ bleda leas, bereþ efne swa ðeah
tanas butan tudder, biþ on telgum wlitig,
heah on helme hrysted fægere,
geloden leafum, lyfte getenge.English
The birch bears no fruit, yet all the same it puts out shoots without seed; it is beautiful in its branches, high in its crown, finely decked, laden with leaves, reaching to the sky.
Original
Bjarkan er laufgrønstr líma;
Loki bar flærða tíma.English
The birch has the greenest leaves of any branch; Loki brought the time of deceit.
The Norwegian rhyme pairs each rune with a second line that rhymes with the first and often has no obvious connection to it.
Original
Bjarkan er laufgat lim
ok lítit tré
ok ungsamligr viðr
abies buðlungr.English
Birch is a leafy branch and a little tree and a fresh young wood. Fir [Latin abies]. Prince.
Each Icelandic stanza ends with two words: a Latin gloss of the rune’s name and a poetic word for a king or chieftain that alliterates with the rune. Both are translated as they stand.
Original texts as printed in Bruce Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples, Cambridge University Press, 1915. Public domain. The English translations are Scryway’s own, made line by line from these texts; square brackets mark uncertain or added words. No published translation is reproduced.
Modern interpretation
From 20th-century and later divinatory practice, written for Scryway. Not a historical meaning.
Keywords: growth, renewal, care
Upright
New growth and nurture: a beginning, a family matter, or a project being carefully tended.
Reversed
Growth stalled, or care withheld. Worry about something fragile.