*Berkanan

ᛒ is a rune that is transliterated as b or ƀ (β) in the Germanic Elder Futhark and the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc writing systems respectively, and as b or p in the Norse Younger Futhark.

More information Name, Proto-Germanic ...

Name	Proto-Germanic	Old English	Old Norse
	*Berkanan	Beorc/Berc	Bjarkan, Birkal
	"birch"	"birch"/"poplar"?	"birch"
Shape	Elder Futhark	Futhorc	Younger Futhark
Unicode	ᛒ U+16D2		ᛒ U+16D2	ᛓ U+16D3
Transliteration	b
Transcription	b
IPA	[β]	[b]	[b], [p]
Position in rune-row	18		13

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Its reconstructed Proto-Germanic name is *berkanan, meaning "birch". While the reconstructed name may have varried historically, the sense of "birch" is uniform across all Runic traditions. In West Norse tradition (Norway, Iceland) it is called bjarkan, potentially also recorded as Danish Old Norse biercan in Codex Leidensis (10th c.),^[1] while the Old Swedish and Early Modern Swedish name is birkal (also birk, biørk/björk, "birch"; Dalecarlian: birke),^[2] the suffix -al assumed to mean "fruit of the tree" (compare Swedish: ekållon, Old High German: eihhila, "acorn"; Middle High German: büechel, "beech nut"),^[3] found in its Swedish rune poem, björkbrumar frodast ("birch buds most flourishing").^[2] In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem and manuscripts it is called beorc or berc ("birch" or "poplar"). The corresponding Gothic letter is 𐌱 b, recorded as bercna by Alcuin in the late 8th century (reconstructed proper form: *𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌺𐌰𐌽, *bairkan). Irish Ogham also uses "birch" for B (Old Irish: beith).

The letter shape is likely directly based on Old Italic 𐌁, whence comes also the Latin letter B.

The rune is recorded in all three rune poems: