Talk:Fehu: Difference between revisions

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See Talk:Tiwaz rune, Talk:Runic alphabet.

name	Proto-Germanic	Anglo-Saxon	Old Norse
	*Fehu	Feoh	Fé
shape	Elder Futhark	Futhorc	Younger Futhark
Unicode	ᚠ U+16A0
transliteration	f
IPA	[f]
Position:	1

A famous entry in Havamal (verse 77 according to many versions) mentions fee, fehu or cattle:

Deyr fe; deyja frændr; deyr sjalfr it sama; ek veit einn; at aldrei deyr; dómr um dauðan hvern.

Attempts of direct translation (you can surely find more accurate or more poetic translations elsewere): Dies fee; Dies friend; Die you do the same; I know one; That never dies; Judgement of dead man.

Havamal is a book full of of "instructions" regarding how a man in the viking area should behave. This verse seems to say that nothing is forever, but what you have achived will always be remembered. Whatever you do, how much wealth you collect, how many friends you have, nothing matters more than how people will remember you after your death. It is also an interesting mentioning of fehu, fe, or in todadays Swedish Fä and English Fee (in Swedish still meaning cattle, in English transformed to money).