Wunjo (ᚹ) is the eighth rune of the Elder Futhark and stands for the sound w. Its name means "joy" or "pleasure." The Old English rune poem, the only one with a verse for it, defines joy modestly: no sorrow, enough to live on and a decent house. In modern rune reading Wunjo is taken to mean joy, harmony and belonging, and it is read as a yes.
What does the Wunjo rune mean?
There is the letter and there is the modern symbol.
The letter is w. In the oldest runic alphabet Wunjo did the ordinary job of spelling words that contained that sound.
The symbol is a creation of modern rune reading, which dates from the 20th century and builds its meanings on the old rune names. There Wunjo stands for:
- Joy. Plain gladness, the kind that needs no special occasion.
- Harmony. People getting along; work that goes smoothly.
- Belonging. Feeling at home where you are.
The Wunjo sign and its sound
Wunjo is an upright line with a small triangle at the top right, like a pennant on a pole or a narrow, pointed letter P.
It is close in shape to Thurisaz, the th rune. The difference is the position of the triangle: Thurisaz carries it in the middle of the stave, Wunjo at the top.
The rune stands for w. Its reconstructed name is Wunjo or Wunjō, and the Old English name is Wynn, also written Wyn.
The name Wunjo and what the rune poem says
No list of rune names survives from the time the Elder Futhark was in use. The names were written down centuries later, and scholars reconstruct the older forms. Tineke Looijenga gives this one as wunjō, with the Old English form wyn translated as "lust, pleasure." The old sense of "lust" here is simply delight.
Among the three medieval rune poems, only the Old English one covers Wunjo. The Scandinavian alphabet had shrunk to 16 runes by the time the Norwegian and Icelandic poems were made, and the w rune was not among them.
The English verse, in Bruce Dickins's 1915 translation: "Bliss he enjoys who knows not suffering, sorrow nor anxiety, and has prosperity and happiness and a good enough house."
It is worth reading slowly. The poet does not describe a feast or a victory. Joy is first an absence, of pain, grief and worry, and then a sufficiency. The last phrase is the most human one: not a great hall, just "a good enough house."
Modern books tend to make Wunjo grander: bliss, glory, wishes fulfilled. The verse supports something quieter and easier to recognize, which is contentment.
Wunjo in a modern rune reading
These readings are modern practice, not a tradition handed down from the rune carvers.
As a rune of the day, Wunjo is taken as permission to enjoy what is going right, without waiting for it to end.
In a three-rune cast:
- The situation. More is in order than you may have noticed. Something fits.
- The challenge. Contentment is being overlooked or postponed. The task is to see what is already good enough.
- The likely outcome. Things settle into a comfortable shape, with people at ease with one another. It is a direction, not a verdict.
In a yes-or-no question Wunjo is read as a yes.
Draw one rune or cast three below.
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Is there a reversed Wunjo?
Modern rune books often supply a "reversed" meaning for a rune drawn upside down. The practice is recent. The rune poems give one verse to each rune and do not mention orientation.
Our rune reading reads all runes upright. The position in the cast provides the contrast: in the challenge position, Wunjo asks what is standing between you and ordinary contentment.
Wunjo in its ætt and neighboring runes
By tradition the 24 runes are divided into three groups of eight, each called an ætt. Wunjo is the eighth and last rune of the first group, often called Freyr's ætt.
It follows Gebo, the gift, and the first group ends on that pairing of generosity and joy. The next rune, Hagalaz, opens the second group with a hailstorm. The change of weather between the two is the sharpest turn in the whole alphabet.
To see all three groups together, visit the guide to the Elder Futhark runes.