(no subject)

Note that ergi is a noun: effeminate behaviour. You can be 'accused' (ha!) of ergi. Argr or rargr are the adjectives. Also " ergjask ("to become argr"); rassragr ("arse-ragr"); stroðinn and sorðinn ("sexually used by a man") and sansorðinn ("demonstrably sexually used by another man") (Sørenson 17-18, 80). A man who is a seiðmaðr (one who practices women's magic) who is argr is called seiðskratti (Sørenson 63)."

"For a man who could not have children (whether due to impotence, sterility, age, etc.) homosexual relations may have been acceptable. One slang term for such a man seems to have been kottrinn inn blauði, or "soft cat" as reported in Stúfs þáttr, an epilogue to Laxdæla saga, in a conversation between the Norwegian king Haraldr harðráði and Stúfr, the son of Þórðr kottr (Þórðr the Cat): puzzled by the unusual nickname, Haraldr asks Stúfr whether his father Þórðr was kottrinn inn hvati eða inn blauði, "the hard or the soft cat." Stúfr declines to answer despite the implied insult, but the king admits that his question was foolish because "the person who is soft (blauðr) could not be a father" (Jochens 76)."

(no subject)

So the runes themselves are, lit, mysteries. Or Mysteries. Or Mysterious Ones. They are forces that exist within the universe, codified into symbols, letters. Aleph, beth, gimel.

Apparently in its earliest form it meant 'counsel'. There is a PIE root *reu- "to give hoarse cries, to mutter":

"PIE *reu- then gave Proto-Germanic *runo

which gave Old Norse ru:n and Old English run which didn't survive, and Middle Dutch rune, Old High German runa, and Gothic runa.

Old Norse ru:n is the source for some borrowings: rune in modern English (via runic in Latin) and Finnish runo 'poem', 'canto'.

The English development of the word rune is nonetheless interesting. We find that the first recorded instances of the borrowed form of rune (i.e. runic) occur around 1662. Following its earliest developments we find:

about 725, OE ru:ne, ru:n, 'counsel', 'consultation'
about 899 and before, OE ru:ne, ru:n, 'a runic letter'
about 950, OE ru:ne, ru:n, 'a secret' or 'mystery'
about 1175, ME rune, roune, 'utterance', 'whisper', 'murmur', 'message'
about 1200, ME rune, roune, 'song', 'poem'.

PIE *reu- also gave raucus 'hoarse' which we have still in modern English and Latin rumor which then gave through Old French the Middle English rumour. In Old English we also find the cognates reon 'to lament' and reotan 'to complain'.

PIE *reu- is also said to have given Welsh rhin meaning 'secret'. Old Irish also has rhin meaning 'secret', but it isn't clear whether this happened through original relationship or borrowing (what can be said is that rune is not attested as a name of the Celtic characters).

And we find from *reus- to 'to dig ', Old Church Slavic ryti 'to dig'., with expansion lithuanian ruobti 'to incise', with a more developed meaning in Middle Dutch 'cut stallion', and in High German (col.) 'to cut down'.

Although I am not stating that there is an etymological link between rune and rovás, I would like to offer what I was able to find on it for interest's sake.

ró- = carve, engrave; notch; rovásirás = runic writing (irás = writing) (Magyar - According to MÉK, of F-U origin) // rogõm = cut out, etc. (Kanty) / roe, rue- = chop, cut (with an axe, etc.), hew (Mari) // [? hur = outline, scratch; draw, inscribe, sketch (Sumerian)] (COL)
note that a more exact translation for rovásirás might be 'engraved writing'."

(The developed meaning of "cut stallion" (ie, gelding) is mythopoeically interesting in light of Odinn as Jalg/Jalk/Jálkr: Gelding. The runes cut; the runemaster is cut, castrated. Altered. Incised.)

The runes (which would in modern English be rowns) are the secret whispers of the universe.  The Mysteries, revealed hoarsely, covertly, whispered and murmured.  They are the Mysteries that Odinn grasped: the powers, the essential (essence-ial) forces of the universe codified, spoken.  Each rune is itself a Mysterious One, but far beyond human personality or form.  They are Mysteries.  Powers.

Fehu-Feoh: thoughts & sources, more briefly :S

Cattle, chattel? - yes

Feoh, fee?? - yes

cattle
mid-13c., from Anglo-Fr. catel "property" (O.N.Fr. catel, O.Fr. chatel), from M.L. capitale "property, stock," neuter of Latin adj. capitalis "principal, chief," from caput "head" (gen. capitis; see head). Cf. sense development of fee, pecuniary. Original sense was of moveable property, especially livestock; not limited to "cows" until 1550s.
pecuniary
c.1500, from L. pecuniarius "pertaining to money," from pecunia "money, property, wealth," from pecu "cattle, flock," from PIE root *peku- (cf. Skt. pasu- "cattle," Goth. faihu "money, fortune," O.E. feoh "cattle, money"). Livestock was the measure of wealth in the ancient world. For a related sense development in O.E., see fee.
peculiar
mid-15c., from L. peculiaris "of one's own (property)," from peculium "private property," lit. "property in cattle" (in ancient times the most important form of property), from pecu "cattle, flock," related to pecus "cattle" (see pecuniary). Meaning of "unusual" is first attested c.1600.
fee
late 13c., from O.Fr. fieu, fief "fief, possession, holding, domain; feudal duties, payment," from M.L. feodum "land or other property whose use is granted in return for service," widely said to be from Frank. *fehu-od "payment-estate," or a similar Germanic compound, in which the first element is cognate with O.E. feoh "money, movable property, cattle" (also Ger. Vieh "cattle," Goth. faihu "money, fortune"), from PIE *peku- "cattle" (cf. Skt. pasu, Lith. pekus "cattle;" L. pecu "cattle," pecunia "money, property"); second element similar to O.E. ead "wealth." OED rejects this, and suggests a simple adaptation of Germanic fehu, leaving the M.L. -d- unexplained. Sense of "payment for services" first recorded late 14c.

Feudal and fief.

Personal property, meubles, as opposed to land (othel/immeubles).
Property that is peculiar to you.

Homonymous root morpheme *peku - to comb, pluck, fleece. Pastoralism. Early tending to wild herds to obtain fibres --> personal property.

Personal property ('cattle') as the concretion (and accretion) of money; wealth taken out of movement between people for the time being. A reservoir of wealth. Looking at how you have chosen to let the energy of your wealth manifest/accrete. Mindfulness in possessions. Goods rather than services.

"Also supporting this association of Fehu and Auðhumla, the name Auðhumla finds its origin, as De Vries says, by the conjunction of two roots. One is Old Norse ‘auðr’ meaning ‘property, riches’ and the second one is the root *humala- meaning ‘hornless’. Thus, De Vries suggests that Audhumla might mean ‘the rich hornless cow’. Since Tacitus (Germania 5) reports that some Germanic tribes had hornless cattle, this stresses the importance of Auðhumla’s lack of horns, in connection with the riches it brings. The importance of the horns will be stressed for understanding the second rune, Uruz which is associated to a bovine with big horns. Thus, Fehu and richness are associated with non-aggressive features."