The symbol on the cover is of course the rune Ing (ᛝ if you have a runic or full Unicode font), the name of a god, representing the phonetic value 'NG', and as a shape resembling the constellation Orion. (The upper points are his shoulders Betelgeuse and Bellatrix, the lower points his knees Saiph and Rigel, the diamond in the middle his famed three-star "belt" Alnilam, Mintaka and Alnitak.)
Ing can also be seen as a bindrune, a letter-combination, of two stacked Gyfu (ᚷ, like the English letter X) runes, which have the phonetic value 'G' and the meaning "gift" [with the ability to protect against poison, hence the XXX on barrels of beer*], thus Ing could be read as a vertical 'GG' symbol to represent the 'NG' sound.
In the 1982 book Rune Games by Marijane Osborn and Stella Longland, the Old English Rune Poem is quoted and translated as follows (excerpt on this rune):
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The symbol on the cover is of course the rune Ing (ᛝ if you have a runic or full Unicode font), the name of a god, representing the phonetic value 'NG', and as a shape resembling the constellation Orion. (The upper points are his shoulders Betelgeuse and Bellatrix, the lower points his knees Saiph and Rigel, the diamond in the middle his famed three-star "belt" Alnilam, Mintaka and Alnitak.)
Ing can also be seen as a bindrune, a letter-combination, of two stacked Gyfu (ᚷ, like the English letter X) runes, which have the phonetic value 'G' and the meaning "gift" [with the ability to protect against poison, hence the XXX on barrels of beer*], thus Ing could be read as a vertical 'GG' symbol to represent the 'NG' sound.
In the 1982 book Rune Games by Marijane Osborn and Stella Longland, the Old English Rune Poem is quoted and translated as follows (excerpt on this rune):
ᛝ wæs ærest mid Eastdenum
gesewen secgun, oþ hé siððan eft
ofer wæg gewát; wæn æfter-ran;
Þus Heardingas þone hæle nemdon.
Ing at first was seen by folk
Among the East Danes, till afterwards he
Went over the waves, followed his wagon.
Thus the Heardings named this hero.
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* Ironically, now in German the word "Gift" means "poison".
Full text of the Old English Rune Poem HERE....
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