Thurisaz (rune)

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Name Proto-Germanic Anglo-Saxon Old Norse
*Þurisaz Þorn Þurs
"giant" "thorn" "giant"
Shape Elder Futhark Futhorc Younger Futhark
Unicode ᚦ
U+16A6
Transliteration þ
Transcription þ þ, ð
IPA [θ] [θ], [ð]
Position in rune-row 3

The rune ᚦ is called Thurs (Þurs "giant", see Jötunn) in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems:

Rune Poem:[1] English Translation:

Old Norwegian
ᚦ Þurs vældr kvinna kvillu,
kátr værðr fár af illu.


Thurs ("Giant") causes anguish to women,
misfortune makes few men cheerful.

Old Icelandic
ᚦ Þurs er kvenna kvöl
ok kletta búi
ok varðrúnar verr.
Saturnus þengill.


Thurs ("Giant") is torture of women
and cliff-dweller
and husband of a giantess
Saturn's thegn.

Anglo-Saxon
ᚦ Ðorn byþ ðearle scearp;
ðegna gehwylcum anfeng ys yfyl,
ungemetum reþe manna gehwelcum,
ðe him mid resteð.


The thorn is exceedingly sharp,
an evil thing for any knight to touch,
uncommonly severe on all who sit among them.

Tursas is a mythological Finnish sea-monster named after a Finnish god of war - Finland was known as the land of the giants (Jotland) in Scandinavian mythology.[2]

By extension, it was also associated with the giant-killer Thor and his hammer Mjollnir. To a lesser extent in its aspect of bringing misfortune, it has also been linked to the Lord of Mischief, Loki.[3] Note, however, that name of the god (Þōrr) has no etymological connection with the word for giant (þurs), being related instead to Þunor (thunder). Nevertheless Loki is said to be a giant, who moved to Asgaard from the land of the giants, Jotunheim.

In Anglo-Saxon England, the same rune was called Thorn or "Þorn" and it survives as the letter Þ (þ). Since "thorn" is also not obviously etymologically related to "thurs", an attempt has been made to account for the substitution of names by taking "thorn" to be a kenning (metaphor) for "giant".[4]

It is disputed as to whether a distinct system of Gothic runes ever existed, but it is clear that most of the names of the letters of the Gothic alphabet correspond to those of the Elder Futhark. In modern transliterations of Gothic texts, the relatively newer thorn character is substituted for the Gothic letter , although neither the thorn glyph or name were used in Gothic. The glyphs of the Gothic alphabet do not follow the runes for the most part, the earlier runic ᚦ being replaced by , called þiuþ "(the) good" in the Codex Vindobonensis 795.

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, and comparing that with the Old English þyrs "giant, ogre" and the Old High German duris-es "(of the) giant", the Proto-Germanic form *þurisaz has been reconstructed.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Original poems and translation from the Rune Poem Page.
  2. ^ Fornjot and the Settlement of Norway
  3. ^ Þórsdrápa
  4. ^ Old English Rune Poem


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