Old SymbolsWhere every symbol began

Plate 1 A vertical stave with two short branches rising to the right

Fehu

The rune for the 'f' sound, named for cattle, and by extension wealth.

Norse runes. Also called fé, feoh.

Origin and history

The first rune of the futhark, which takes its name from its first six letters. The reconstructed Proto-Germanic name *fehu meant livestock, the portable wealth of a herding society, and the Old English rune poem calls it feoh. The same root survives in the English word 'fee'.

Sources

  1. Runes: A Handbook, by Michael P. Barnes, Boydell Press
  2. Runes, by R. I. Page, British Museum Press

Last reviewed September 23, 2026.