Grendelcynn's Hall

English Magical Words

ᚫᚱᛣᚱᛁᚢ (ærkriu)

Runic rings, runic charm

8th–10th century

Arloth

Latin manuscript charms

12th–15th century

Ananizapta

Medical and magical manuscripts

14th–16th century

ærkriu

ærkriu is often called the earliest English magical word. It is not the most common, as the equally mysterious Arloth and Ananzapta appear on many more charms in later periods.

Only three uses of ærkriu survive today, two on rings and one on a manuscript.

These are the Bramham Moor Ring found in Yorkshire which dates from 800-900ad, while the Kingmoor Ring found in Carlisle dates from 900ad. Both rings have almost identical runic inscriptions, which shows the lettering is not random and has some meaning.

The Bramham Moor Ring

ᚫ ᚱ ᛣ ᚱ ᛁ ᚢ ᚠ ᛚ ᛏ
Æ R K R I U F L T

ᛣ ᚱ ᛁ ᚢ ᚱ ᛁ ᚦ ᚩ ᚾ
K R I U R TH O N

ᚷ ᛚ ᚫ ᛋ ᛏ ᚫ ᛈ ᚩ ᛏ ᚩ ᛚ
G L Æ S T Æ P O T O L

The Kingmoor Ring

The rings are identical except for the strange dash through the ᛏ rune, which occurs in a different place on each ring.

ᚫ ᚱ ᛣ ᚱ ᛁ ᚢ ᚠ ᛚ ᛏ
Æ R K R I U F L T

ᛣ ᚱ ᛁ ᚢ ᚱ ᛁ ᚦ ᚩ ᚾ
K R I U R TH O N

ᚷ ᛚ ᚫ ᛋ ᛏ ᚫ ᛈ ᚩ ᛏ ᚩ ᛚ
G L Æ S T Æ P O T O L

The next appearance of the word is in Bald's Leechbook, written in the 10th century the leechbook is mostly a collection of herbal remedies, but also includes charms, spells and rituals to cure illness and ward off goblins and elves.

The charm, Book I, chapter 9.7, reads,

blod seten eft gehal beren ear besting on eare swa he nyte

Blood staunching: put a whole ear of barley into the ear so that he does not notice.

sum þis writað, ægther ge on hors ge on menn, blod seten

Some write this, either for horse or for man, as a blood-staunching charm.

It then follows which the magic spell to chant

ær grim struht fola.

ær grenn tart strut onntria.

enn piathu morfona onnhel.

ara carn leow gruth ueron.

fil cron diw.

inro cron.

aer crio.

aer mio.
aer leno.

Third from bottom of the list of magic words in the spell is, aer crio.

It is still unknown what the word means exactly, but it is part of a spell to stop bleeding.

So it is possible to interpret the two rings as magical rings, worn in battle to protect the wearer from wounds. Which would be highly useful for a warrior.