Dictionary

runesong 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 *sengʷʰ- Proto-Indo-European *séngʷʰ-e-ti Proto-Germanic *singwaną Proto-Germanic *sangwaz Proto-West Germanic *sangu Old English sang Middle English song English song English runesong From rune + song.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A poem or song, especially one with mystical or mysterious overtones; a spell or an incantation; magical or esoteric poetry.
   • Into this the four plunged, weaving with their runesongs fresh and original psychic patterns which had the effect of healing wounds. 2022, Michael Moorcock, Stormbringer: The Elric Saga, part 2, page 381:
   • The old rune-songs may, however, still be heard on both sides of the border-land in Finnish and in Russian Carelia, as also on the shores of Lake Ladoga, in Ingria, and in the neighbourhood of Kajana in Osterbotten. 1896, Bernard Fredrik Godenhjelm, Handbook of the History of Finnish Literature, page 12:
   • Ere one verse was done / The deer in the pine wood forgot how to run. / Oh! the strong / Power of rune song! / Chased, they forgot how to run. 1882, [Eliza Keary], Memoir of Annie Keary, page 127:
   • Odin himself says in his famous Rune-song in the Elder Edda: I know that I hung / On a wind-rocked tree. 1875, Rasmus Bjørn Anderson, Norse Mythology, II. i., page 254:

Forms