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Thurisaz

Runic alphabet letter


Summary

Runic alphabet letter

FieldValue
lang1pglang2 = oelang3 = on
name1*Þurisaz
name2Þorn
name3Þurs
meaning1"giant"
meaning2"thorn"
meaning3"giant"
shape13[[File:Runic letter thurisaz.svgx50pxclass=skin-invert-image]]
unicode hex1316A6
transliteration13þ
transcription1þ
transcription23þ, ð
IPA1
IPA23
position133

The rune is called Thurs (Old Norse Þurs, a type of entity, from a reconstructed Common Germanic Þurisaz) in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems. In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem it is called thorn, whence the name of the letter þ derived. It is transliterated as þ, and has the sound value of a voiceless dental fricative (the English sound of th as in thing).

The rune is absent from the earliest Vimose inscriptions, but it is found in the Thorsberg chape inscription, dated to ca. AD 200.

The rune may have been an original innovation, or it may have been adapted from the classical Latin alphabet's D, or from the Rhaetic alphabet's Θ.

Name

In Anglo-Saxon England, the same rune was called Thorn or "Þorn" and it survives as the Icelandic letter Þ (þ). An attempt has been made to account for the substitution of names by taking "thorn" to be a kenning (metaphor) for "giant".

It is disputed as to whether a distinct system of Gothic runes ever existed, but it is clear that most of the names (but not most of the shapes) of the letters of the Gothic alphabet correspond to those of the Elder Futhark. The name of 𐌸, the Gothic letter corresponding to Þ, is an exception: it is recorded as thyth in the Codex Vindobonensis 795, which has been interpreted as the Gothic word þiuþ "(the) good", and as such unrelated to either þurs or þorn. The lack of agreement between the various glyphs and their names in Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, and Old Norse makes it difficult to reconstruct the Elder Futhark rune's Proto-Germanic name.

Assuming that the Scandinavian name þurs is the most plausible reflex of the Elder Futhark name, a Common Germanic form þurisaz can be reconstructed (cf. Old English þyrs "giant, ogre" and Old High German duris-es "(of the) giant").

Rune poems

The Germanic rune ᚦ is mentioned in three rune poems:

Notes:

References

References

  1. Odenstedt, Bengt. (1990). "On the Origin and Early History of the Runic Script, Typology and Graphic Variation in the Older Futhark".
  2. Gippert, Jost. "The Development of Old Germanic Alphabets". Uni Frankfurt.
  3. Dickins, Bruce. (12 June 2009). "Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples (1915)". Cornell University Library.
  4. Original poems and translation from the [http://www.ragweedforge.com/poems.html Rune Poem Page] {{Webarchive. link. (1999-05-01 .)
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