445 
R U 
bay; and 9 or 10 miles eastward of Rio Bueno. Lat. 18. 
30. N. long. 77. 11. W. 
RUNCATION, s. [ runcatio , Lat.] Act of clearing away 
weeds. Bailey and Chambers. Not now in use. Evelyn 
has employed it. 
RUNCORN, a township of England, in a parish of the 
same name, in Cheshire; 4 miles north-by-west ofFrod- 
sham. Population 2060. 
RUNDLE, s. An old English term for the umbel of a flower. 
In heraldry the word implies the same as a bailor pellet; 
also a round; a step of a ladder.—The angels did not 
fly, but mounted the ladder by degrees; we are to consi¬ 
der the several steps and rundles we are to ascend by. 
Buppa .—A peritrochium ; something put round an axis.— 
The third mechanical faculty, styled axis in peritt'ochio, 
consists of an axis or cylinder, having a runcl/e about it, 
wherein are fastened divers spokes, by which the whole may 
be turned round. Wilkins. 
RU'NDLET, s. A small barrel.—Set a rundlet of ver¬ 
juice over against the sun in summer, to see w hether it will 
sweeten. Bacon. 
RUNE, s. [Run, Cimbr. et Sax. liter a ; character .— 
The word rune, according to Mallet, is derived from a word 
in the ancient Gothic language, signifying to cut: but 
Wormius, with greater probability, derives rune from either 
ryn, a furrow, or ren, a gutter or channel. As these cha¬ 
racters were first cut in wood or stone, the resemblance to 
a furrow, or channel, would easily suggest the appellation. 
Others, however, derive the term from ryne, signifying art, 
especially that of magic].—The Runic character, or letter. 
The runes were for long periods of time in use upon mate¬ 
rials more lasting than any others employed in the same 
purpose. Temple .—There are many manuscripts now re¬ 
maining, by which it will appear, that the Danish runes 
were much studied among our Saxon ancestors. Wart on. 
Some have been of opinion that Gulphilas, or Ulphilas, a 
Gothic bishop, about the year 370, was the first inventor of 
the Runic character : but Olaus Wormius shews at large, that 
Ulphilas could only be the first who taught it to foreigners; 
for that the Runae, or characters themselves, were older 
than he. 
Many learned writers have adopted the opinion, first sug¬ 
gested by Dr. Ilickes, that the Runic character was borrowed 
from the Roman, and they farther maintain, that it was not 
known in the North before the introduction of Christianity. 
If it were allowed, that the. Runic characters are borrowed 
from the Roman alphabet, it by no means follows, that the 
Scandinavians had waited for the secret till the introduction 
of Christianity among them: but it is justly observed by 
Wormius, that they are as easily reducible to the Greek and 
Hebrew Alphabets as to the Roman. An evident proof that 
Runic were not derived from the Roman letters, results not 
only from their form, which has scarcely any resemblance to 
these, but from their number (being but 16), and their order 
and names, which have nothing in common with the 
Roman, Greek, or Gothic characters of Ulphilas. A com¬ 
parative view of the Runic and Gothic in these respects may 
be seen in the English translation of Mallet’s Northern An¬ 
tiquities, vol. i. p. 370. M. Mallet has sufficiently shewn, 
that all the old chronicles and poems of the North univer¬ 
sally agree in assigning to the Runic characters a very 
remote antiquity, and in attributing the invention of them 
to Odin or Woden himself, whom their poets expressly 
call the inventor of the Runes. Besides, instances occur 
of princes and pagan heroes, who made use of this character 
in an age long before Christianity had penetrated into the 
North. 
A few years before the birth of Christ, as it has been said, 
soon after Mithridates had been overthrown by Pompey, a 
nation of Asiatic Goths, who possessed that region of Asia 
which is now called Georgia, and is connected on the south 
with Persia, alarmed at the progressive encroachments of the 
Roman armies, retired in vast multitudes under the conduct 
of their leader Odin, or Woden, into the northern parts of 
Europe, not subject to the Roman government, and settled 
Vox.. XXII. No. 1514. 
N E. 
in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and other districts of th e 
Scandinavian territory. As they brought with them many 
useful arts, particularly the knowledge of letters, which Odin 
is said to have invented, they were hospitably received by 
the natives, and by degrees acquired a safe and peaceable 
establishment in the new country, which seems to have 
adopted their language, laws, and religion. Odin is said to 
have been styled a god by the Scandinavians; an appel¬ 
lation which the superior address and specious abilities of this 
Asiatic chief easily extorted from a more savage and un¬ 
civilized people. 
This migration is confirmed by the concurrent testimonies 
of various historians; but there is no better evidence of it, 
than that conspicuous similarity subsisting at this day 
between several customs of the Georgians, as described by 
Chardin, and those of certain cantons of Norway and Swe¬ 
den, which have preserved their ancient manners in the 
purest degree. Not that other striking, implicit and internal 
proofs, which often carry more conviction than direct his¬ 
torical assertions, are wanting to point out this migration. 
The ancient inhabitants of Denmark and Norway inscribed 
the exploits of their kings and heroes on rocks, in characters 
called Runic; and of this practice many marks are said still 
to remain in those countries. This art or custom of writing 
on rocks is Asiatic. Modern travellers report, that there are 
Runic inscriptions now existing in the deserts of Tartary. 
(See Voyage par Strahlemberg, &c. A Description of the 
northern and eastern parts of Europe and Asia.) Schroder 
says, from Olaus Rudbeckius, that Runes, or letters, were 
invented by Magog the Scythian, and communicated to 
Tuisco, the celebrated German chieftain, in the year of the 
world 1799. Brief. ad Lexicon Latino-Scandic.) The 
written mountains of the Jews are an instance that this 
fashion was oriental. 
The Runic characters were distinguished into various 
kinds. The noxious, or hitter Runes w'ere employed to 
bring various evils on their enemies; \h& favourable averted 
misfortunes; the victorious produced conquest to those who 
used them; the medicinal were inscribed on the leaves of 
trees for healing; others served to dispel melancholy 
thoughts, to prevent shipwreck, as antidotes against poison, 
as preservatives against the resentment of their enemies, and 
in order to render a mistress favourable. These various 
kinds differed only in the ceremonies observed in writing 
them, in the materials on which they were written, in the 
place where they were exposed, in the manner in which the 
lines were drawn, whether in the form of a circle, a serpent, 
or a triangle, &c. 
The Runic characters were rarely written from the right 
hand to the left; but it is not uncommon to meet with* the 
line running from the top to the bottom, after the manner of 
the Chinese and other Indian nations; or from the top to the 
bottom, and then turning round to the left, and so up again 
to the place it begins at; or else from the left to the right, 
and so back to the left again, which was the manner of the 
early Greeks. 
The Saxons, who were fond of tracing the descent of 
their princes from Odin, and who became possessors of 
England in the sixth cenrury, imported into this country 
the old Runic language and letters. This appears from in¬ 
scriptions on coins, stones, and other monuments, and from 
some of their MSS. 
There are some Runic medals in the closets of the curi¬ 
ous ; and some modern Danish and English medals, the 
inscriptions of which are Latin, and the character Runic. 
There is extant a coin of king Offa with a Runic inscrip¬ 
tion, which shews, that this character had been used by the 
Saxons as well as their Scandinavian brethren. 
There are also Runic inscriptions in this island; one in 
Cumberland, and another in Scotland. See Hickes’ Thes. 
Ling. Sept. 
In several parts of Sweden, stones may be met with, which 
were formerly set up as obelisks in memory of the dead ; and 
these monuments are marked with the ancient northern letters 
called Runor, or the Runic characters. In some places the 
5 X characters 
