Yr rune

For ʀ in the International Phonetic Alphabet, see Uvular trill.
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Name Proto-Germanic Old English Old Norse
*Algiz(?) Eolh Yr
"elk" "yew"
Shape Elder Futhark Futhorc Younger Futhark
Unicode ᛉ
U+16C9
 ᛦ
U+16E6
 ᛧ
U+16E7
Transliteration z x ʀ
Transcription z x ʀ
IPA [z] [ks] [ɻ], [r]
Position in rune-row 15 16

The Yr rune ᛦ is a rune of the Younger Futhark. The name yr means "yew" in Old Norse.

It developed out of the Algiz rune as the Younger Futhark gradually began to replace the Elder Futhark from around the 7th century. Its common transliteration is a small capitals r (ʀ).

Its phonological value is also the continuation of the /z/ phoneme represented by Algiz, the word-final *-z in Proto Germanic, notably the nominative desinence (PIE *-s). In Proto-Norse pronounced closer to /r/, perhaps /ɻ/. Within Old Norse, the Proto-Norse phoneme collapses with /r/.

Unicode has "Latin Small Capital Letter R" at codepoint U+0280 ʀ. A corresponding capital letter is at U+01A6 Ʀ, called "Latin Letter Yr". The rune itself is encoded at U+16E6 ᛦ "Long Branch Yr". Variants are "Short Twig Yr" at U+16E7 ᛧ and "Icelandic Yr" at U+16E8 ᛨ.

Note that the unrelated Anglo-Saxon calc rune ᛣ has exactly the same shape as Younger Futhark yr.

See also

References


Runes See also: Epigraphy · Runestones · Rune Poems · Runology · Runic magic
Elder Futhark: ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚨ ᚱ ᚲ ᚷ ᚹ ᚺ ᚾ ᛁ ᛃ ᛇ ᛈ ᛉ ᛊ ᛏ ᛒ ᛖ ᛗ ᛚ ᛜ ᛞ ᛟ          
Old English Futhorc: 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 Futhark: 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
The Letter "R"
General
Pronunciations
Variations