Ehwaz
The Comfort of the Restless
The Elder Futhark letter e, the horse, glossed by the Old English poem alone: a proud thing on its hooves.
The reconstructed *ehwaz stands behind Old English eh and is cognate with Latin equus. The Younger Futhark carried no e-rune, its sound written with the i-rune instead, so neither Norse poem covers this letter and exactly one medieval gloss for it exists. The Old English poem calls the horse a joy to princes among warriors, proud on its hooves, a subject of talk among wealthy men on horseback, and always a comfort to the restless. Horses mattered beyond transport: horse burials are archaeologically common, and Tacitus reported in the Germania of 98 that white horses kept in sacred groves were consulted for omens. Meanings of partnership or trust come from modern rune books.
Light
Motion that can be relied on. The poem values the horse as pride, as wealth worth discussing among equals, and as the one thing in its list offered as a comfort to the restless.
Shadow
The comfort belongs to whoever owns it. This is an aristocratic animal, praised among rich men on horseback, and it carries a rider only as far as it consents to.
