On page 157 of The Destiny Of The Warrior (see book reviews section) Georges Dumézil speaks about the battle of Thor and Thjalfi with the giant Hrungnir and his clay dummy. In this well-known passage it is said that Hrungnir has a heart of stone, a heart with three corners (or “horns” in the translation of Dumézil) “which then became that of the runic sign called the ‘heart of Hrungnir’.” Often this heart of Hrungnir is taken to be the Valknutr, but Dumézil, in a note, writes the following: “A vertical stroke with two diagonal strokes branching upward from the middle of the vertical, each half as long as the vertical and at right angles to each other; this sign equals hr (van Langenhove).” This can hardly be seen as a description of a Valknutr! But what to make of it then…?
The upper line as three interpretations of the description of Dumézil, the bottom line the two runes that are the H and the R. I cannot think of a combination of these two runes that come even close to Dumézil’s description! Does anybody have a better idea and/or know this Van Langenhove that Dumézil refers to?