twig rune

English

Noun

twig rune (plural twig runes)

1. A type of cryptographic runic letter resembling twigs on a tree stem; the total of branches on one side denote a division of the futhark (runic alphabet), while the total of branches on the other side denote the position of the rune within the division.
   • 1867, George Stephens, The Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England, volume I, London: John Russell Smith, page 84:

     Twig-runes occur on both Old-Northern and Scandinavian-runic monuments.