Jēran

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Jera" redirects here. For the butterfly, see skipper butterfly.
This article contains runic special characters; to display them, you need a Unicode font supporting the runic range, such as Junicode or FreeMono.
Name Proto-Germanic Anglo-Saxon
*Jē₂ran / *Jē₂raz Gēr Ior
"year, harvest"
Shape Elder Futhark Futhorc
Unicode ᛃ
U+16C3
 ᛄ
U+16C4
 ᛡ
U+16C4
Transliteration j io
Transcription j io
IPA [j] [jo]
Position in rune-row 12 28 or 29
The evolution of the rune in the elder futhark during the centuries.
The evolution of the rune in the elder futhark during the centuries.

*Jēran or *Jēraz (stem *jē2ra-;[1] Gothic jēr, Anglo-Frisian ȝēr /yēr/, Old High German and Old Saxon jār, Old Norse ār) "harvest, (good) year" is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the j-rune ᛃ of the Elder Futhark.

Proto-Germanic *jē2ran is cognate with Avestan yāre "year", Greek ὧρος "year" (and ὥρα "season", whence hour), Slavonic jarŭ "spring" and with the -or- in Latin hornus "of this year" (from *ho-jōrinus), all from a PIE stem *yer-o-.

The rune in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc is continued as ᛄ Gēr and ᛡ Ior, the latter a bind rune of Gyfu and Is (compare also ᛠ Ear). Its name is continued as ᛅ Ár in the Younger Futhark. The corresponding Gothic letter is 𐌾 j, named jer, which is also based on the shape of the Elder Futhark rune. This is an exception, shared with urus, due to the fact that neither the Latin nor the Greek alphabets at the time of the introduction of the Gothic one had graphemes corresponding to the distinction of j and w from i and u.

The derivation of the rune is uncertain; some scholars see it as a modification of Latin G ("C (ᚲ) with stroke") while others consider it a Germanic innovation. The letter in any case appears from the very earliest runic inscriptions, figuring on the Vimose comb inscription, harja.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The word may have been either neuter or masculine in Common Germanic; c.f. Page, R.I. (2005) Runes, page 15. The British Museum Press ISBN 0-7141-8065-3

[edit] See also


Runes See also: Rune poems · Runestones · Runology · Runic divination
Elder Fuþark: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛞ ᛟ          
Anglo-Saxon Fuþorc: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚩ o ᚱ ᚳ c ᚷ ȝ ᚹ ᚻ ᚾ ᛁ ᛄ ᛇ eo ᛈ ᛉ x ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛝ ᛞ ᛟ œ   ᚪ a ᚫ æ ᚣ y ᛠ ea
Younger Fuþark: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚬ ą ᚱ ᚴ     ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ a       ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ   ᛘ ᛚ       ᛦ ʀ        
Transliteration: f u þ a r k g w · h n i j ï p z s · t b e m l ŋ d o