{{short description|Ligature of two or more runes}} [[File:Samstavsrunbåt.JPG|thumb|A boat whose mast is formed with the bind runes '''þ=r=u=t=a=ʀ= =þ=i=a=k=n''', on the runestone Sö 158 at Ärsta, Södermanland, Sweden. The bind runes tell that the deceased was a strong thegn.]]
A '''bind rune''', or '''bindrune''' ({{langx|is|bandrún}}), is a Migration Period Germanic ligature of two or more runes. They are extremely rare in Viking Age inscriptions, but are common in earlier (Proto-Norse) and later (medieval) inscriptions.<ref name=ENOKSEN>Enoksen, Lars Magnar (1998). ''Runor: historia, tydning, tolkning'', p. 84. Historiska Media, Falun. {{ISBN|91-88930-32-7}}</ref>
On some runestones, bind runes may have been ornamental and used to highlight the name of the carver.<ref>{{citation |first=Mindy |last=MacLeod |editor-last=Stocklund |editor-first=Marie |contribution=Ligatures in Early Runic and Roman Inscriptions |title=Runes and Their Secrets: Studies in Runology |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |location=Copenhagen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USIpSluLe10C&pg=PA385 |page=194 |isbn=87-635-0428-6 |year=2006 |display-editors=etal }}</ref>
==Description==
There are two types of bind runes. Normal bind runes are formed of two (or rarely three) adjacent runes which are joined together to form a single conjoined glyph, usually sharing a common vertical stroke (see ''Hadda'' example below).<ref>{{cite book |last=Elliott |first=R. W. V. |title=Runes |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1980 |isbn=0-7190-0787-9 |page=22 }}</ref> Another type of bind rune called a same-stave rune, which is common in Scandinavian runic inscriptions but does not occur at all in Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions, is formed by several runic letters written sequentially along a long common stemline (see ''þ=r=u=t=a=ʀ= =þ=i=a=k=n'' example shown in image).<ref name="MacLeod">{{Cite book |last=MacLeod |first=Mindy |title=Bind-Runes: An Investigation of Ligatures in Runic Epigraphy |publisher=Uppsala University |year=2002 |pages=16–18, 158–59, 162–163 |isbn=91-506-1534-3}}</ref> In the latter cases the long bind rune stemline may be incorporated into an image on the rune stone, for example as a ship's mast on runestones Sö 158 at Ärsta and Sö 352 in Linga, Södermanland, Sweden, or as the waves under a ship on DR 220 in Sønder Kirkeby, Denmark.<ref name="MacLeod"/>
==Examples== ===Elder futhark=== Examples found in Elder Futhark inscriptions include: * Stacked Tiwaz runes: Kylver Stone, Seeland-II-C * Gebô runes combined with vowels: Kragehul I * The syllable ''ing'' written as a ligature of Isaz and Ingwaz (the so-called "lantern rune").<ref>Richard Lee Morris, ''Runic and Mediterranean Epigraphy'', 1988, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8LPEXoYbHZ4C&pg=PA130 p. 130].</ref>
===Anglo-Saxon Futhorc=== Bind runes are not common in Anglo-Saxon inscriptions, but double ligatures do sometimes occur, and triple ligatures may rarely occur. The following are examples of bind-runes that have been identified in Anglo-Saxon runic inscriptions:<ref>{{cite book |last=Elliott |first= R. W. V. |title=Runes |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1980 |isbn=0-7190-0787-9 |pages=87, 105}}</ref><ref name="page">{{cite book |last=Page |first=Raymond I. |author-link=Raymond Ian Page |title=An Introduction to English Runes |publisher=Boydell Press |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SgpriZdKin0C |isbn=0-85115-946-X |pages=48, 163, 169, 172 }}</ref>
* The word ''{{lang|ang|gebiddaþ}}'' is written with a ligatured double {{runic|ᛞ}} (''dd'') on the Thornhill III rune-stone * The name ''{{lang|ang|Hadda}}'' is written with a ligatured double {{runic|ᛞ}} (''dd'') on the Derbyshire bone plate * The word ''{{lang|ang|broþer}}'' is written with a ligatured {{runic|ᛖ}} and {{runic|ᚱ}} (''er'') on some Northumbrian stycas * The Latin word ''{{lang|la|meus}}'' is written as ''{{lang|la|mæus}}'' with a ligatured {{runic|ᛗ}} and {{runic|ᚫ}} (''mæ'') on the Whitby comb * The inscription ''{{lang|ang|[h]ring ic hatt[æ]}}'' ("ring I am called") is written with a ligatured {{runic|ᚻ}} and {{runic|ᚪ}} (''ha'') on the Wheatley Hill finger-ring * The names of the evangelists, ''Mat(t)[h](eus)'' and ''Marcus'' are both written with a ligatured {{runic|ᛗ}} and {{runic|ᚪ}} (''ma'') on St Cuthbert's coffin * The name ''{{lang|ang|Dering}}'' may be written with a triple ligatured {{runic|ᛞ}}, {{runic|ᛖ}} and {{runic|ᚱ}} (''der'') on the Thornhill III rune-stone (this reading is not certain) * The word ''{{lang|ang|sefa}}'' is written with a ligatured {{runic|ᚠ}} and {{runic|ᚪ}} (''fa'') on the right side of the Franks Casket * Double ligatured runes {{runic|ᛖᚱ}} (''er''), {{runic|ᚻᚪ}} (''ha'') and {{runic|ᛞᚫ}} (''dæ'') occur in the cryptic runic inscription on a silver knife mount at the British Museum * The word ''gægogæ'' on the Undley bracteate is written with ligatured {{runic|ᚷ}} and {{runic|ᚫ}} (''gæ'') and {{runic|ᚷ}} and {{runic|ᚩ}} (''go'') * A ligatured {{runic|ᚾ}} and {{runic|ᛏ}} (''nt'') occurs in the word ''glæstæpontol'' on a cryptic inscription on a silver ring from Bramham Moor in West Yorkshire * A triple ligature {{runic|ᛞ}}, {{runic|ᛗ}} and {{runic|ᚩ}} (''dmo'') occurs on a broken amulet found near Stratford-upon-Avon in 2006. This is the only known certain Anglo-Saxon triple bind rune. There is possibly a faint {{runic|ᛖ}}, {{runic|ᛞ}} (''ed'') bind rune on the reverse of the amulet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amulet WAW-4CA072 |url=http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/405373 |publisher=Portable Antiquities Scheme |date=6 September 2010 |access-date=2013-01-06 }}</ref> * The name Ecgbeorht engraved on an armband from the Galloway Hoard is written ''eggbrect'' with ligatured {{runic|ᛖ}} and {{runic|ᚳ}} (''ec''), and the final {{runic|ᛏ}} (''t'') added above the final letter * The otherwise unattested Anglo-Saxon name Eadruf {{runic|ᛖᚪᛞᚱᚢᚠ}} is inscribed on a gold Latin cross pendant, with ligatured {{runic|ᛞ}} and {{runic|ᚱ}} (''dr'') and probable ligatured {{runic|ᛖ}} and {{runic|ᚪ}} (''ea'')<ref>{{Cite web |title=Penndant DUR-B62F57 |url=https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/986027 |publisher=Portable Antiquities Scheme |date=23 June 2020 |access-date=2021-01-10 }}</ref> {{Wide image|British Museum Runic Silver Animal Head.jpg|950|Cryptic runic inscription on a silver knife mount, with several bind runes}} {{Wide image|British Museum Runic Bone Plaque.jpg|950|The "Derbyshire bone plate", showing the name Hadda with ligatured double {{runic|ᛞ}}}}
==Modern use== * The Bluetooth logo 17px merges the runes analogous to the modern Latin alphabet letters ''h'' and ''b''; {{runic|ᚼ}} (Hagall) and {{runic|ᛒ}} (Berkanan) together, forming a bind rune. The two letters form the initials 'H B', alluding to the Danish king and viking raider Harald Bluetooth, for whom Bluetooth was named. * The former logo of Thor Steinar featured a combination of a *tiwaz rune ({{runic|ᛏ}}) and a *sowilo rune {{runic|ᛋ}}. This logo caused controversy as the runes were so combined that a part of the logo became very similar to the insignia of the {{lang|de|Schutzstaffel}}.
==Gallery== <gallery> Image:Rathulf.jpg|The '''a''' and the '''þ''' runes in ligature on the Rök runestone Image:Skibari.jpg|The '''s''' and '''k''' runes in ligature in the Old Norse word ''{{lang|non|skipari}}'' ("sailor") on the Tuna Runestone in Småland Image:Sønder Kirkby bindrune.jpg|A bind rune for the word ''{{lang|non|runaʀ}}'' on the Sønder Kirkeby Runestone in Denmark File:Bluetooth.svg|Bluetooth logo (20th/21st-century bind rune of {{runic|ᛡ}} (Hagall) and {{runic|ᛒ}} (Bjarkan)) </gallery>
==See also== * Cipher runes * Helm of Awe * Pseudo-runes * Runestone
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://users.on.net/~starbase/galdrastafir/bindrunes.htm Nordic bind runes]
{{Runes}}
Category:Runology Category:Typographic ligatures