ᚱᚨᛇᚺᚨᚾ

ᚱᚨᛇᚺᚨᚾ

Proto-Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *raihô, *raihą (“deer”).

Noun

ᚱᚨᛇᚺᚨᚾ (raïhan) (genitive singular)

1. roe deer
   • 5th century, Caistor-by-Norwich astragalus

Usage notes

It is unclear whether this word is Proto-Norse or Proto-English, and the two languages were quite similar at the time. The single-barred variant of the *haglaz rune (ᚺ as opposed to ᚻ) is characteristic of Nordic inscriptions, but was used early on in the history of Old English as well, so the identification is inconclusive.[1]

Descendants

• Old English: rāha, rāa, rā m (rǣġe f)
  • Middle English: ro, roo, ra, raa, roa
    • English: roe
    • Scots: ra, rae
• Old Norse: rá f
  • Icelandic: rá
  • Faroese: rá
  • Norwegian: rå
  • Old Swedish: rā
    • Swedish: rå
  • Danish: rå

References

1. Victoria Symons (2016-10-24) Runes and Roman Letters in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 8