Dictionary

runemaster en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Celtic *rūnābor.? Proto-Germanic *rūnō Proto-Germanic *rūnǭ Proto-Norse ᚱᚢᚾᛟ (runo) Old Norse rúnbor. English rune Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂-der.? Proto-Indo-European *meh₂-der.? Proto-Italic *magisteros Latin magister, magistrum Old French maistrebor. ▲ Latin magisterder. Old English mǣġester Middle English maister English master English runemaster From rune + master.

Meanings

1. A runesmith; one skilled at carving and deciphering runes.
   • Without delay he got it taken out and removed to the Palace-yard, and afterwards commissioned the Rune-master Olaf Worm to visit and decipher it. 1867, George Stephens, The Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England, volume I, London: John Russell Smith, page 335:
   • This great period of older English, set down by the rune-masters and then by medieval scribes using the roman alphabet, came to an end with the invention of printing in the late fifteenth century. 1985, Robert Burchfield, The English Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 19:
   • This excerpt from the histories of a contemporary of the Teutonic runemasters is, as far as can be determined, factual[.] 1989, Lisa Peschel, A Practical Guide to the Runes: Their Uses in Divination and Magic, St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, page 99:
2. One who has mastered the use of runes for magical, divinatory, or other esoteric uses.
   • This stone, not attached to any grave and probably originally part of a ritual stone arrangement, is then charged by the force of the runemaster in this threatening aspect of "the malicious one" and "the raven." 1989, Edred Thorsson, Runelore: A Handbook of Esoteric Runology, York Beach, Me.: S. Weiser, page 76:
   • The Rune Masters of the Teutons and Vikings wore startling garb that made them easily recognizable. Feared, honored, welcomed, these shamans were familiar figures in tribal circles. 1982, Ralph Blum, The Book of Runes, New York: St. Martin's Press, page 26:

Forms

Coordinates

runemistress