Mannaz
The Elder Futhark rune for the “m” sound. Its name, *mannaz, meant man, a human being.
Meaning
The reconstructed name is *mannaR, Old Norse maðr, “human being, man”, according to Store norske leksikon. The Norse rune poems give man a sober description: in the Norwegian poem man “is an augmentation of the dust”, and in the Icelandic poem the “delight of man and augmentation of the earth and adorner of ships”. The Old English poem says that man “is dear to his kinsmen”, yet every man must fail his fellow, since the Lord will give the flesh to the earth.
Origin and history
The rune could stand for its own name. The Bosworth–Toller dictionary says it “is sometimes used instead of writing the word man”, and Bruce Dickins notes that the character for M is used this way “fairly often in the Lindisfarne Gospels”.
Write in runes
stringmash.comRune translatorTurn English into Elder Futhark, Younger Futhark or Anglo-Saxon runes, with a chart of all 24 Elder Futhark runes.Read next
- Next in Elder Futhark runesLaguzThe Elder Futhark rune for the “l” sound. Its name, *laguz, meant water or the sea.
- The same shape in Catholic symbolsMarian crossA cross with a capital M beside it or beneath it, for Mary standing at the foot of the cross. It is best known from the coat of arms of Pope John Paul II.
See also
Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raido, Kaunan, Gebo.
Sources
- Runer (Store norske leksikon), Store norske leksikon, Runenavn (table of rune names)
- Runic and heroic poems of the old Teutonic peoples, Bruce Dickins (ed. and trans.), 1915, Cambridge University Press (Internet Archive), Anglo-Saxon poem v. 59 and note; Norwegian poem 14; Icelandic poem 14
- mann (Bosworth–Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary), Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898), online edition, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, entry “mann”
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from crosses or letters and numbers.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 30, 2026. How we research
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