Isa (ᛁ) is the eleventh rune of the Elder Futhark and stands for the sound i. It is a single upright line, and its name means "ice." The medieval rune poems describe ice as cold, slippery and beautiful, a bridge that needs care to cross. In modern rune reading Isa is taken to mean a standstill and a time to wait, and it is read as a no.
What does the Isa rune mean?
In historical terms, Isa is a vowel sign, the i of the oldest runic alphabet.
In modern rune reading, which took its present form in the 20th century, the name of the rune supplies its meaning. Isa stands for:
- Standstill. A matter that has stopped moving.
- Stillness. Quiet that can be used for rest and a clearer view.
- Waiting. Time that has to pass before anything changes.
The Isa sign and its sound
Isa is the simplest rune there is: one vertical stroke, like a capital I without serifs. Every other rune with an upright stave can be thought of as Isa with something added.
It stands for i. The name appears as Isa or Isaz in reconstructed form, Is in Old English and Íss or Iss in Old Norse.
The name Isa and what the rune poems say
Rune names were first written down centuries after the Elder Futhark, and the oldest forms are reconstructions. Tineke Looijenga gives īsaz for this rune and translates the Old English name is as "ice." There is no disagreement about the meaning.
All three medieval rune poems have a verse for it, quoted here from Bruce Dickins's 1915 translation. Each looks at ice from a different spot.
The Old English poem admires it: "Ice is very cold and immeasurably slippery; it glistens as clear as glass and most like to gems; it is a floor wrought by the frost, fair to look upon."
The Old Norwegian poem thinks of travel: "Ice we call the broad bridge; the blind man must be led." A frozen river or lake is a road in winter, but not one to cross carelessly.
The Old Icelandic poem ends on the danger: "Bark of rivers and roof of the wave and destruction of the doomed."
So ice in the poems is three things at once: lovely, useful and treacherous. None of the verses is about being stuck. The modern reading of Isa as a standstill takes the stillness of ice and leaves out the bridge. The older picture is richer: frozen water can carry you across, if you go slowly.
Isa in a modern rune reading
These are modern readings. Runes were an alphabet first, and nothing shows that single runes were drawn for guidance in the period when the Elder Futhark was in use.
As a rune of the day, Isa is taken as a suggestion to hold still: nothing is lost by waiting.
In a three-rune cast:
- The situation. Things are frozen. Effort is not turning into movement at the moment.
- The challenge. Pushing on a slippery surface makes for a fall. The task is patience, and careful steps where steps are needed.
- The likely outcome. A pause that ends in its own time. It is a direction, not a verdict.
In a yes-or-no question Isa is read as a no, most often meaning "not yet."
Draw a rune of the day or cast three below.
Loading the tool…
Why Isa has no reversed form
Modern rune books often give a second meaning for a rune that lands upside down. Isa cannot land upside down. A straight line is the same from either end.
That is one small sign that reversed meanings were added to the runes late: the system does not fit all 24 letters. Our rune reading reads every rune upright and lets the position in the cast carry the nuance.
Isa in its ætt and neighboring runes
The Elder Futhark is traditionally split into three groups of eight runes, each called an ætt. Isa is third in the second group, often called Hagal's ætt.
It closes a run of three hard runes: Hagalaz, hail, then Nauthiz, need, then ice. Right after it comes Jera, the year and its harvest. Winter is followed by the turning of the seasons.
The full row is in the guide to the Elder Futhark runes.