Austin Runes

In front of the H-E-B at the corner of Oltorf and South Congress, there’s a simple crosswalk to the the Our Lady of Perpetual Motion Catholic Church. I don’t really know the name, but I liked that, right under “Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration.”

But on the south side, the grocery store side? There’s an older piece of the sidewalk, repair job in the last two, three decades, and someone — this was old Austin — inscribed a runic set of characters.

In spurious, curious research, I’ve looked for that meaning, and come up with nothing.

It looks like an upside down peace sign, with three sets of runic letters, or letters in rune style, K to the north, W to the south, and D, done as a triangle, to the west.

Runes themselves are fascinating as culture, study, and meaning. All real runes were straight lines, easy enough to scratch in a rock’s surface. The “Runic Alphabet,” and there are several schools of thought, as well as several diverse families, so I can’t suggest what this is.

Near as I could tell, the symbol was a combination of runes that stands for “Life.” The KW? I like that for Kramer Wetzel. Doubt that’s it. and there is a “D” shape underneath, and I never did fathom that one.