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Gyfu is the name for the g-rune ᚷ in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem and means "gift" or "generosity":
ᚷ Gyfu gumena byþ gleng and herenys,
ƿraþu und ƿyrþscype und ƿræcna gehƿam
ar und ætƿist, ðe byþ oþra leas.
Generosity brings credit and honour, supporting one's dignity;
it provides help and livelihood
for all broken people who have nothing else.
The corresponding letter in the Gothic alphabet is 𐌲 g, called giba. This same rune also appears in the Elder Futhark, with a hypothesized Proto-Germanic name gebô, meaning "gift." J.H. Looijenga speculates that the rune is directly derived from the Latin Χ, whose pronunciation in the 1st century might have been similar to the Germanic g, for example, the Gothic reihs compared to the Latin rex (in contrast to the Etruscan alphabet, where X 𐌗 had a value of [s]).
The Gyfu rune is sometimes used as a symbol in modern mysticism, especially by those interested in Celtic mythology. For example, it is described in the book The Runic Tarot as representing the balance between giving and receiving in friendships.
Anglo-Saxon gār Rune
In addition to gyfu, the Anglo-Saxon futhorc has the gār-rune ⟨ᚸ⟩, named after a medieval type of spear. It is epigraphically attested on the Ruthwell Cross and also appears in the manuscript tradition of the 11th century. Phonetically, gār stands for the /g/ sound. It is a variation of the simple gyfu rune ᚷ.
The Old English gār means "spear," but the name of the rune likely recalls the rune names ger, ear, and ior. Due to palatalization in Old English, the original g-rune (i.e., the Gyfu rune ⟨ᚷ⟩) could have expressed either /j/ or /g/ (see yogh). The ger rune clearly expressed /j/, and the newly introduced gār rune was meant to clearly express /g/.
Gār is the 33rd and final rune in the sequence, as it appears in Cotton Domitian A.ix.