The mapping
Every APL glyph gets one rune. Runes were picked for meaning where possible:
⍝ (lamp, the comment) is ᚳ cen, the torch; → (branch) is ᚱ reið, the
ride; ⌽ (rotate) is ᛃ jera, the turning year.
ᚳ the lamp is a torch
ᚳ rotate: the turning year
rᚷᛃᛮ10
⍝ the lamp is a torch
⍝ rotate: the turning year
r←⌽⍳10
Tier A is Dyalog's non-ASCII glyphs, always mapped. Tier B is the
ASCII primitives (+ - * / , . …), mapped only on request, because those
characters also appear in prose.
The Basis column says how each rune was chosen:
| Code | Basis |
|---|---|
| M | meaning: the rune's name or rune-poem sense matches the glyph (M- weaker) |
| P | pun or sound |
| S | systematic variant of a paired glyph's rune |
| V | visual |
| F | free pick |
| Glyph | Rune | Tier | APL name | Rune name | Basis | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ← | ᚷ | A | assign | gebo/gyfu: gift | M | Norse nafnfesti, the name-fastening gift; assignment gives a value to a name |
| → | ᚱ | A | branch | raido/reið: ride | M | a journey; go to |
| ⋄ | ᛬ | A | diamond (statement separator) | multiple punctuation | M | used in inscriptions to separate words and sections |
| ⍝ | ᚳ | A | lamp (comment) | cen: torch | M | AS rune poem: the torch with its pale bright flame; lamp = torch |
| ⍺ | ᚠ | A | alpha | fé/fehu: wealth | M | first rune of the futhark; alpha = first |
| ⍶ | ᚡ | A | alpha underbar | v (dotted fé) | S | variant of ⍺'s rune |
| ⍵ | ᛦ | A | omega | yr (long-branch) | M | last rune of the Younger Futhark; omega = last |
| ⍹ | ᛧ | A | omega underbar | yr (short-twig) | S | variant of ⍵'s rune |
| ∇ | ᚫ | A | del (function/recursion) | æsc: ash | M | Yggdrasil is an ash (Völuspá); recursion is a tree |
| ⍫ | ᛸ | A | del tilde | Franks Casket æsc | S | variant of ∇'s rune |
| ∆ | ᛑ | A | delta | d (dotted Týr) | P | d for delta |
| ⍙ | ᚧ | A | delta underbar | eth (ð) | P | another d-sound |
| ⍎ | ᚨ | A | execute | ansuz: a god | M | the god's word made deed |
| ⍕ | ᚩ | A | format | os: mouth | M | AS rune poem: source of all speech; rendering as text |
| ⍞ | ᛴ | A | quote-quad | Franks Casket os | S | variant of the mouth rune, for character I/O |
| ⎕ | ᛝ | A | quad | ing (AS) | V | box shape; Ing the god-king for the system namespace |
| ¯ | ᚿ | A | high minus | nauð (short-twig) | S | variant of - (Tier B) |
| ⍬ | ᛀ | A | zilde | dotted-n | S | nauð = need/lack, so nothing |
| × | ᛪ | A | times/direction | x | V | the medieval x-rune |
| ÷ | ᛆ | A | divide/reciprocal | ár (short-twig) | M- | a portion of the harvest; + is long-branch ár |
| ⍟ | ᚪ | A | logarithm | ac: oak | P | a log of wood |
| ○ | ᛊ | A | circle/pi times | sowilo: sun | M | the sun's disc; trigonometry is astronomy |
| ⌈ | ᚦ | A | ceiling/maximum | þurs: giant | M | the tallest |
| ⌊ | ᛠ | A | floor/minimum | ear: earth/grave | M | AS rune poem: the body laid in the earth; the ground |
| ⊤ | ᛣ | A | encode | calc: chalk | M- | chalk, for tally marks and writing digits |
| ⊥ | ᛤ | A | decode | cealc | S | pair of ⊤ |
| ⊢ | ᛁ | A | right tack/same | íss/isaz: ice | M | frozen, unchanging: returns its argument untouched |
| ⊣ | ᛂ | A | left tack/same | e (dotted íss) | S | variant of ⊢'s rune |
| ⌹ | ᛢ | A | domino | cweorð | F | meaning unknown, a fitting stand-in for matrix inverse |
| ≡ | ᛚ | A | match/depth | lögr/lagu: water | M | depth |
| ≢ | ᛛ | A | not match/tally | dotted-l | S | variant of ≡'s rune |
| ≠ | ᛐ | A | not equal | Týr (short-twig) | S | = is Týr |
| ≤ | ᛱ | A | less or equal | k (Tolkien) | F | |
| ≥ | ᚣ | A | greater or equal | yr (AS): bow | F | |
| ∨ | ᚼ | A | or/gcd | hagall (long-branch) | F | |
| ∧ | ᚻ | A | and/lcm | hægl (AS) | F | |
| ⍱ | ᚽ | A | nor | hagall (short-twig) | S | variant of ∨'s rune |
| ⍲ | ᛩ | A | nand | q | F | |
| ↑ | ᛉ | A | take/mix | algiz: elk-sedge | V | upraised antlers or hands |
| ↓ | ᚺ | A | drop/split | hagalaz: hail | M | ON rune poem: coldest of grain; it falls |
| ⊂ | ᛟ | A | enclose | ēðel/othala: estate | M | an enclosed homestead |
| ⊃ | ᛞ | A | first/pick/disclose | dæg: day/dawn | M- | dawn is the first of the day |
| ⊆ | ᛜ | A | nest/partition | ingwaz | V/F | a closed shape |
| ⌷ | ᛥ | A | squad/index | stan: stone | V | a squared block |
| ⍋ | ᛋ | A | grade up | sigel/sól: sun | M/S | sunrise |
| ⍒ | ᛌ | A | grade down | sól (short-twig) | S | sunset |
| ⍳ | ᛮ | A | iota/index of | arlaug (golden number 17) | M | runic numerals on primstav calendars |
| ⍸ | ᛯ | A | where/interval index | tvímaðr (golden number 18) | S | next golden number |
| ∊ | ᚶ | A | membership/enlist | eng | F | |
| ⍷ | ᚵ | A | find | g (dotted kaun) | F | |
| ∪ | ᚹ | A | union/unique | wynn: joy | M- | fellowship |
| ∩ | ᚥ | A | intersection | w | S | variant of ∪'s rune |
| ⌿ | ᚭ | A | replicate/reduce first | óss (short-twig) | S | / is long-branch óss |
| ⍀ | ᚯ | A | expand/scan first | oe | S | \ is ᚮ |
| ⍪ | ᛰ | A | table/catenate first | belgþor (golden number 19) | F | |
| ⍴ | ᛒ | A | shape/reshape | bjarkan: birch | M- | AS rune poem: high-crowned, fair in its branches; form and growth |
| ⌽ | ᛃ | A | reverse/rotate | jera: year | M | the turning year |
| ⊖ | ᛄ | A | reverse/rotate first | ger (AS): year | S | AS form of ⌽'s rune |
| ⍉ | ᛔ | A | transpose | dotted-p | F | |
| ¨ | ᛗ | A | each | mannaz: man | M | each man |
| ⍨ | ᛘ | A | commute/selfie | maðr (Younger) | M | IS rune poem: maðr er manns gaman, man is man's delight |
| ∘ | ᛖ | A | jot/compose | eh: horse | M | horse and rider working as one |
| ⍤ | ᛶ | A | rank/atop | Franks Casket eh | S | variant of ∘'s rune |
| ⍥ | ᛷ | A | over | Franks Casket ac | F | |
| ⍛ | ᛳ | A | behind | oo | F | |
| ⍣ | ᚤ | A | power operator | y (dotted ur) | S | * is ur |
| ⌸ | ᚴ | A | key | kaun | P | k for key |
| ⌺ | ᛭ | A | stencil | cross punctuation | V | the neighbourhood cross |
| ⍠ | ᛍ | A | variant | c | F | a variant form of kaun |
| ⌶ | ᛵ | A | I-beam | Franks Casket is | P/V | I |
| + | ᛅ | B | plus/conjugate | ár: plenty/good harvest | M | increase |
| - | ᚾ | B | minus/negate | nauð: need | M | taking away |
| * | ᚢ | B | power/exponential | úr: aurochs | M | AS rune poem: fierce and strong; power |
| ! | ᚸ | B | factorial/binomial | gar: spear | F | |
| ? | ᛈ | B | roll/deal | peorð | M | AS rune poem: play and gaming; often read as a dice cup |
| | | ᛲ | B | magnitude/residue | sh | F | |
| = | ᛏ | B | equal | Týr | M | god linked to law and the assembly (Mars Thingsus) |
| < | ᚲ | B | less than | kaunan | V | it is a < |
| > | ᛕ | B | greater than | open-p | F | |
| ~ | ᛨ | B | not/without | Icelandic yr | F | |
| / | ᚬ | B | replicate/reduce | óss: estuary | M | ON rune poem: the way of most journeys; many streams reduce to one |
| \ | ᚮ | B | expand/scan | o | S | the running reduction; variant of óss |
| , | ᛡ | B | catenate/ravel | ior: river-fish | M- | AS rune poem: lives on land and in water; joins two realms |
| . | ᛫ | B | inner product/namespace/decimal | single punctuation | M/V | the attested word divider |
| @ | ᚰ | B | at | on | P | at/on |
| & | ᛓ | B | spawn | bjarkan (short-twig) | M- | birch = birth; spawn |
| # | ᛇ | B | root namespace | eoh/eihwaz: yew | M- | root; Yggdrasil-as-yew is a scholarly hypothesis, the Edda says ash |