Thurisaz

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NameProto-GermanicOld EnglishOld Norse
*ÞurisazÞornÞurs
"giant""thorn""giant"
ShapeElder FutharkFuthorcYounger Futhark
Runic letter thurisaz.svg
Unicode
U+16A6
Transliterationþ
Transcriptionþþ, ð
IPA[θ][θ], [ð]
Position in
rune-row
3

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 /θ/ (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.

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