Meet ᚠ, Fehu—the first letter of the Elder Futhark, the runic row that gives us the name “futhark” from its opening sequence: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ.
Its sound is /f/, like in “fish.” In Proto-Germanic, fehu meant cattle—movable wealth—so this rune is tied to property, resources, and what circulates.
The medieval rune poems preserve that idea.
Old Norse says wealth stirs strife among kin; Old English calls it a comfort that should be shared.
Visually, ᚠ is a vertical stave with two short branches pointing up to the right.
You’ll meet ᚠ across time: in the Elder Futhark (2nd–8th centuries), in the Viking-Age Younger Futhark as fé, and in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc as feoh.
On the Kylver stone, the oldest full futhark begins with ᚠ.
Say it: ᚠ, Fehu—cattle, capital, and the first step into the runes.