Berkanan is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the ''b''

rune Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, a ...

, meaning " birch". In the Younger Futhark it is called Bjarkan in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems. In the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

rune poem it is called ''beorc'' ("birch" or " poplar"). The corresponding

Gothic letter Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norweg ...

is 𐌱 ''b'', named ''bairkan''. The letter shape is likely directly based on Old Italic EtruscanB-01

𐌁, whence comes also the Latin letter B. The rune is recorded in all three rune poems:

References

Runes {{writingsystem-stub

See also

References