helliruna

Old High German

FWOTD – 1 February 2017

Etymology

From hella, hellia (“hell, afterlife”) +‎ rūna (“secret, mystery”), perhaps inherited from Proto-Germanic *haljōrūnō. Occurs as a gloss to Latin necromantia. Related to Old English helrūna (“necromancer, one adept in the mysteries of hell”), hellrūn (“sorceress”), and possibly a Gothic *𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌾𐍉𐍂𐌿𐌽𐌰 (*haljōrūna, “witch”), mentioned and Latinized by Jordanes in his Getica as haliurunnas (“witches”, accusative plural).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhel.li.ruː.na/

Noun

hellirūna f

1. necromancy, sorcery

Declension

Declension of hellirūna (ō-stem)

case	singular	plural
nominative	hellirūna	hellirūnā
accusative	hellirūna	hellirūnā
genitive	hellirūna	hellirūnōno
dative	hellirūnu	hellirūnōm

References

• Köbler, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed. (2014)