Anglo-Saxon gar Rune
| Name | Proto-Germanic | Old English |
| *Geƀō | Gyfu; Gar | |
| "gift" | "gift"; "spear" | |
| Shape | Elder Futhark | Futhorc |
| Unicode | ᚷ U+16B7 | ᚷ ᚸ U+16B7 U+16B8 |
| Transliteration | g | ȝ; g |
| Transcription | g | ȝ, g; g |
| IPA | , ; | |
| Position in rune-row | 7 | 7; 33 |
Gar "spear" is also the name of ᚸ, a rune of the late Anglo-Saxon futhorc. It is not attested epigraphically, and first appears in 11th century manuscript tradition. Phonetically, gar represents the /g/ sound. It is a modification of the plain gyfu rune ᚷ.
Old English gâr means "spear", but the name of the rune likely echoes the rune names ger, ear, ior: due to palatalization in Old English, the original g rune (gyfu) could express either /j/ or /g/ (see yogh). The ger unambiguously expressed /j/, and the newly introduced gar rune had the purpose of unambiguously expressing /g/.
Gar is the 33rd and final rune in the row as given in Cotton Domitian A.ix.
Read more about this topic: Migration Period Spear
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