Rune 7 of 24 · Freyr's aett
Gebo
“gift” · sound: g (hard)
Looks the same either way up: never reversed.
Historical evidence
Old English gyfu, 'gift'. The Old English poem presents giving as honour and support for those who have nothing. The rune has no Norse counterpart: it was dropped from the Younger Futhark.
The name Gebo is a modern reconstruction of the Proto-Germanic name; the Elder Futhark’s own names are not recorded.
In the rune poems
Original
Gyfu gumena byþ gleng and herenys,
wraþu and wyrþscype and wræcna gehwam
ar and ætwist, ðe byþ oþra leas.English
Giving is, among people, an honour and a praise, a support and a dignity; and to every outcast help and sustenance, when he has nothing else.
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: gift, exchange, partnership
Upright
A gift or exchange, and the bond it creates. Balance between giving and receiving.