Name and linguistic reconstruction
Ehwaz is the conventional normalised form of the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name *ehwaz. It means horse. The asterisk marks a form not directly attested as a rune name in a surviving Elder Futhark inscription.
Sign and historical use
In the Elder Futhark this rune served first as a written character. Its sound value, position in rune rows, and use in inscriptions are more direct historical evidence than modern lists of symbolic meanings.
A rune name could aid memory and occasionally function as an ideograph. This does not mean that every occurrence automatically invoked the name’s entire semantic content.
What the rune poems attest
No Elder Futhark rune poem survives. The Old English, Norwegian, and Icelandic stanzas shown here belong to later rune rows. They help reconstruct names but are not unchanged commentary from the period when the sign arose.
Horses had economic, social, and ritual importance; a fixed reading as partnership or soul journey remains a modern selection.
Modern symbolic interpretation
Modern rune practice often expands Ehwaz from the image-field “horse”. Such readings can serve as a language for reflection, but they are modern tradition rather than an attested Viking-Age oracle definition.
Rune poems in the original
Old English
Old English Rune Poem
eoh byþ for eorlum æþelinga wyn, hors hofum wlanc, þær him hæleþ ymbe welege on wicgum wrixlaþ spræce, and biþ unstyllum æfre frofurThe horse is a joy to nobles, proud in its hooves; surrounded by prosperous riders, words are exchanged, and it is always a comfort to the restless.
A sense-based working translation of the CLASP transcription; imagery and ambiguous words will be reviewed before final approval.