Interregnum, the Runes of Greyhawk: Part 1

This is the first of a series (hopefully) of articles departing from the primary purpose of this site, which is the telling of the history of the Kingdom of Aerdy and Great Kingdom; either in delving into other areas of the history of the Flanaess or presenting analysis of various aspects of Greyhawk lore. In this case I'm presenting the beginning of a long-ago-started dissection of what was presented as a "Glossary of Portentious Runes and Glyphs" in the back of the 1980 World of Greyhawk Folio Edition and continued with some modifications in later guides to the world of Greyhawk.

There are 76 runes contained within 4 separate Greyhawk sourcebooks;  the 1980 World of Greyhawk Folio Edition, the 1983 World of Greyhawk Boxed Set, From the Ashes, and the Player’s Guide to Greyhawk. With the publication of the Boxed Set, 27 runes were changed (air, answer/solution, betrayal, copper, day, demoniac, dragon, earth, electrum, evil servant, fire, go, god, gold, good, hail, holy, ice, insanity, irresistible, life, planes of existence, precious gem, senses, treasure, uncertain, watcher). Some of these changes were only variations of the runes in the Folio Edition, others were completely different symbols. In From the Ashes, the runes for “Magic Power, Evil” and “Magic Power, Good” which had previously been shown together start to be more distinctly separated until in the Player’s Guide to Greyhawk, they are completely separate, giving a total of 77 runes instead of the 76 in prior publications. Also, beginning with From the Ashes, the name of the “god” rune was changed to “power” to bring it into line with 2e terminology, and its order in the list of runes was changed to reflect this.

Most if not all of the runes are drawn from traditional real world sources, with the majority being found in The Book of Signs by noted typographer Rudolph Koch (Dover Publications, Inc.). It is not unreasonable to believe that this book served as the primary source for the majority of the runes. In fact the illustrations for the runes beginning with the Boxed Set mimic Rudolph Koch’s style very closely. While most of the runes are from esoteric, scientific, or religious sources, a small number are more mundane in origin, being drawn from what Koch refers to as “house and holdings marks,” which are symbols used to denote ownership, somewhat like trademarks or livestock brands. Another source of runes, especially for those not found in the The Book of Signs is Medicinisch-Chymisch und Alchemistisches Oraculum, published by August Lebrecht Stettin in the 18^th century in the Free Imperial City of Ulm. Additional information was found at Symbols.com the Online Encyclopedia of Western Symbols and Ideograms (symbols.com).

Aid (Supernatural). As given on pages 5-7 in Rudolph Koch’s The Book of Signs, this figure is composed of two symbols. The first is the furca, or forked cross, also known as the mystic's cross, robber's cross, or plague cross. In The Book of Signs, pp. 5-7 it is said to be "a symbol for the Trinity," and "a Pythagorean emblem of the course of life, in the form of a rising path with fork roads to Good and Evil." It also symbolizes "the expectant soul, man gazing aloft with outstretched arms." The inverted furca symbolizes "salvation descending from above and spreading over the world below." The symbol that is the aid rune is thus the meeting of these two symbols. In The Book of Signs, p. 7 the symbol is described as the two signs approaching one another and enclosing a space between them. Though this does not explicitly fit with the meaning of the rune given in Greyhawk-related publications, by combining the symbolism of the component symbols the meaning of supernatural aid can be implied.

Air. There is a slight difference between the illustrations of the runes in the Folio Edition (left) and subsequent guides (right). The rune as shown in the Folio Edition departs from the meaning as given on page 50 of The Book of Signs as a traditional symbol for the classical element of fire. The addition of a dot in the center of the circle in subsequent editions match what is seen in that same source as a traditional symbol for the element of air and can be seen as a correction to what was presented in the earlier edition.

Anger, Quarrel. This rune appears on page 10 in The Book of Signs among a group of symbols “representing the vicissitudes of family life,” with this symbol in particular meaning, “men quarrel and fight,” which matches closely with the meaning given in Greyhawk-related publications. No other interpretation is given in The Book of Signs, though one could see it as being a combination of two of the symbol for “man”, which later in that work (On page 102) is also identified as the Teutonic rune Ihls (Also known as Algiz and Elhaz) or “elk”. My own interpretation is that looking at the symbol with the former meaning one could read it as two men leaning into each other with one arm each locked together as if wrestling or the horns of two elk locked in battle.

Answer, Solution. The illustrations for this rune are very different in the Folio Edition (left) and the subsequent guides (right), though study reveals that they are both alchemical symbols. The rune as it is given in the Folio Edition appears very similar to one of several alchemical symbols given for both tin and electrum at Symbols.com. As shown in the subsequent Greyhawk guides it is identical to a traditional alchemical symbol given on page 72 in The Book of Signs as representing orpiment , which is a mineral, arsenic-trisulfide,  also known as “King’s Yellow” or “Chinese Yellow.” It was historically used as a pigment, and as a medicine, though probably not very effectively in the latter case, considering it is highly toxic. What symbolic meaning, if any, the authors of the Folio Edition and subsequent guides could have meant by their selections is unknown.

Betrayal, Double Dealing. There is a notable difference between this rune as illustrated in the Folio Edition (left) and subsequent guides (right), though the elements are similar. As given in the Folio Edition it is identical to a Christian symbol given on page 22 of The Book of Signs as a “Double Cross” combining the greek “X” with a cross. It will probably be noted as many fans of fantasy fiction as being having elements of the symbol of Chaos from a number of the works of author Michael Moorcock. As presented in subsequent Greyhawk guides it does not appear to correspond to any single traditional symbol, though there is a resemblance to a component of "a sign composed of eight subsidiary signs, taken from a French calendar,” shown on p. 48 of The Book of Signs. The composite sign is said to represent the eight corners of the Heavens and is also known as the Rhumb of Heaven. The subsidiary sign similar to what in Greyhawk sources as the betrayal rune appears in The Book of Signs at the very bottom of the composite symbol though in other sources its position varies. It differs mainly from the betrayal rune in that its central horizontal arm is somewhat the same length as the upper and lower horizontal arms, whereas the central horizontal arm of the betrayal rune is somewhat shorter.  Like the preceding symbol, what meaning the authors of Greyhawk publications could have intended remains unknown. 

Brass. Though not included in The Book of Signs, Medicinisch-Chymisch und Alchemistisches Oraculum shows this as the symbol for what the Romans called aurichalcum, which we call brass. It is also referred to in that work as cuprum citrinum, or “yellow copper.” Brass is an alloy of zinc and copper; copper being the primary element. For reasons which will be seen below, copper is associated with the goddess Venus, and the similarity to the astronomical symbol for Venus is plainly seen. In subsequent guides the symbol is essentially the same with only very slight variation not really worth delving into. 

Copper. There is a considerable difference between this rune as presented in the Folio Edition (left) and the subsequent guides (right).  The rune in the former is one of the most commonly seen alchemical symbols for copper, appearing in Medicinisch-Chymisch und Alchemistisches Oraculum as Venus cuprum. Copper was associated with Venus in the Ancient and Medieval world due to an early source of copper being Cyprus, believed to be the birthplace of that goddess. Cuprum is the Latin origin for our word copper. The rune for copper that appears in subsequent Greyhawk sources is shown on page 71 of The Book of Signs, where it is referred to as “copper saffron.” This symbol also appears in Medicinisch-Chymisch und Alchemistisches Oraculum for crocus veneris, which refers to copper oxide. Crocus is the Latinization of the Greek krokos, which is in turn probably a loan word from a Semitic language, where similar words refer to saffron. The stigmas of a variety of crocus flower is the origin of the yellow spice saffron. “Veneris” is an obvious reference to Venus.  There is also variety of crocus, Crocus veneris which is native to Cyprus.

Danger, Dangerous, Deadly. This rune appears in The Book of Signs,  p. 64 as being a botanical symbol meaning “very poisonous, deadly.” Botanical symbols originated with 18th century Swedish scientist Carl Linneaus, who is considered the father of modern taxonomy. Linneaus derived some of those symbols from earlier sources and is also the source of the traditional symbols for 'male' and 'female', the latter of which is seen in the second symbol for 'copper' in the preceding rune. The meaning for Linneaus's symbol given here fits plainly with that given in the Folio Edition and subsequent publications.

Darkness. This rune appears on page 58 of The Book of Signs among a group of astronomical symbols, as being representative of night, darkness and concealment. This meaning corresponds exactly to that given in the world of Greyhawk.

Day. The representations of this rune in the Folio Edition and subsequent publications are so different as to appear unrelated though as we will see their historical meaning is similar. The rune as it appears in the Folio Edition (left) corresponds exactly to the Teutonic rune Dag or Dagaz, appearing on page 103 in The Book of Signs and which symbolizes "day".  The Day rune in the latter (right) also appears  in The Book of Signs, on page 57 as a symbol for "Morning; the rising sun", which corresponds closely with its meaning in Greyhawk. Unrelated, it is also the alchemical symbol given in Medicinisch-Chymisch und Alchemistisches Oraculum for acetum cydoniorum, a vinegar derived from quince fruit.

Death. The Death rune appears the same in all Greyhawk publications. It is identical with the Teutonic rune Eihwaz (Yew), which also represents death and is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name for the Anglo-Saxon (Futhorc) rune Eoh. In The Book of Signs, p. 102 Koch incorrectly identifies it as Yr, which is the Old Norse name of the inverted version of the rune Algiz (see Aid, above), having the same meaning of "yew".

Demoniac, Demon Power. Appears differently between the Folio Edition (left) and subsequent publications (right). In the former there is no equivalent in the book of signs or anything identical in other sources; however it is very similar to Ægishjálmur, the Helm of Awe, which is a Norse magical symbol for protection and invincibility in battle, though as will be seen later that symbol appears again in the rune table in a closer form as the rune for Irresistible, Overpowering. As presented in subsequent Greyhawk sources it appears similar to a symbol seen twice in The Book of Signs. It appears once, on page 22 as a pagan sun wheel, appropriated by Christians as a Chrismon (Monogram of Christ), with the vertical bar representing “I” for Jesus, and the “X” for Christ; the second instance as an alchemical symbol for sub-acetate of copper, also known as verdigris. In none of these contexts does its meaning come close to that of the rune in Greyhawk publications.