Kaunan
Torch or Sore
The k-rune, whose name is disputed: an ulcer in both Norse poems, a torch in the Old English one.
The Elder Futhark name is not settled. It is reconstructed either as kaunan, a sore or ulcer, or as kenaz, a torch, and the medieval poems support both. The Old English gives cen, a torch known to every living man by its pale bright flame, always burning where princes rest within. Both Norse poems give kaun, an ulcer: the Norwegian calls it fatal to children and observes that death makes a corpse pale, while the Icelandic calls it a disease fatal to children, a painful spot, an abode of mortification. Two unrelated words share one shape. Modern rune sets generally take the torch and drop the sore without saying so.
Light
The Old English torch: light made and tended, the hall lit from within, and knowledge that can be carried into a dark place and handed on without being diminished.
Shadow
The Norse gloss is unsparing, giving a sore that kills children and an abode of decay. Fire and infection are the same image seen twice, something burning that will not be put out.
