The p rune of the futhark, the oldest Germanic writing system, has remained unexplained in the traditional theories of runic origins, the Greek, the Etruscan, and the Latin Theses. It is here explained within the Punic Thesis as the Phoenician P letter, rune-internally “doubled” in order to guarantee a plosive [p] reading (as for the late Punic geminate) and to prevent a fricative [f] reading (as for the late Punic singleton).