Rune 6 of 24 · Freyr's aett
Kaunan
“sore, ulcer (Norse kaun); torch in Old English” · sound: k
Can be drawn reversed when reversals are on.
Historical evidence
The Norse poems name it kaun, a sore or ulcer. The Old English poem calls it cen, a torch burning bright where nobles rest. Modern practice often calls it Kenaz and follows the torch.
The name Kaunan is a modern reconstruction of the Proto-Germanic name; the Elder Futhark’s own names are not recorded.
In the rune poems
Original
Cen byþ cwicera gehwam, cuþ on fyre
blac ond beorhtlic, byrneþ oftust
ðær hi æþelingas inne restaþ.English
The torch is known to every living being by its fire, bright and shining; it burns most often where nobles are at rest within.
Original
Kaun er barna bǫlvan;
bǫl gǫrver nán fǫlvan.English
A sore is the bane of children; grief turns a man pale.
The Norwegian rhyme pairs each rune with a second line that rhymes with the first and often has no obvious connection to it.
Original
Kaun er barna böl
ok bardaga [för]
ok holdfúa hús
flagella konungr.English
A sore is the bane of children and [a blow in] a fight and a house of rotting flesh. Whip [Latin flagella]. King.
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: light, insight, craft
Upright
A light that reveals: understanding, skill or creative fire. Something becomes clear.
Reversed
Something festering or hidden. Insight is blocked, or a skill is going unused.