View source for Jēran

{{Short description|Elder Futhark rune}}
{{Redirect|ior|other uses|IOR (disambiguation)}}
{{for multi|the village in Albania|Jeran, Albania|the village in Iran|Jeran, Iran}}
{{infobox rune
| lang1 = pg | lang2 = oe | lang3 = on
| name1 = '''*Jēra-'''
| name2a = '''Gér'''
| name2b = '''Íor'''
| name3 = '''Ár'''
| meaning1 = "[[season]], [[harvest]]" 
| meaning2a = "[[year]], [[harvest]]"
| meaning2b = "eel"
| meaning3 = "harvest, plenty"
| shape1 = [[File:Runic letter jeran.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]] 
| shape2a = [[File:Runic letter ior.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]][[File:Runic letter ger.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]]
| shape2b = [[File:Runic letter ior.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]] 
| shape3a = [[File:Runic letter ior.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]]
| shape3b = [[File:Runic letter ar.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]]
| shape3c = [[File:Short-twig a rune.png|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]]
| unicode hex1 =16C3
| unicode hex2a =16E1 16C4
| unicode hex2b =16E1
| unicode hex3a =16E1
| unicode hex3b =16C5
| unicode hex3c =16C6
| transliteration1 ='''j''' 
| transliteration2a ='''j''' 
| transliteration2b ='''io'''
| transliteration3a ='''A'''  
| transliteration3b ='''a'''  
| transliteration3c ='''a'''  
| transcription1 =''j'' 
| transcription2a =''j'' 
| transcription2b ='' io'' 
| transcription3 =''a'' 
| IPA1 = {{IPA|[j]}}
| IPA2a = {{IPA|[j]}}
| IPA2b = {{IPA|[jo]}}
| IPA3 = {{IPA|[a]}}
| position1 = 12
| position2a = 12
| position2b = 28 or 29
| position3 = 10
}}
{{Contains special characters|Runic|width=30em}}
'''Jera''' (also '''Jeran''', '''Jeraz''', '''Yera''') is the conventional name of the ''j''-[[rune]] {{runic|ᛃ}} of the [[Elder Futhark]], from a reconstructed [[Common Germanic]] [[stem (linguistics)|stem]] {{lang|gem-x-proto|jēra-}}<ref name=PAGE>Cf. Page (2005:15). The word may have been either neuter or masculine in Common Germanic.</ref> meaning "[[harvest]], (good) year".

The corresponding letter of the [[Gothic alphabet]] is Gothic {{script|Goth|𐌾}}, named {{wikt-lang|got|𐌾𐌴𐍂}} ({{tlit|got|jēr}}), also expressing {{IPA|/j/}}.
The Elder Futhark rune gives rise to the [[Anglo-Frisian runes|Anglo-Frisian]] {{Runic|ᛄ}} {{IPA|/j/}}, named ''gēr'' {{IPA|/jeːr/}}, and {{Runic|ᛡ}} {{IPA|/io/}}, named ''ior'', and to the [[Younger Futhark]]  ''ár'' rune {{Runic|ᛅ}}, which stands for {{IPA|/a/}}, as the {{IPA|/j/}} phoneme disappears in late [[Proto-Norse]].

Note that {{runic|ᛆ}} also can be a variation of [[Medieval runes|dotted]] [[Isaz]] used for {{ipa|/e/}}; e.g. in [[Dalecarlian runes]].

==Name==
{{wiktionary|Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/jērą}}
The reconstructed Common Germanic name {{lang|gem-x-proto|jēran}} is the origin of English [[wikt:year|year]] (Old English {{wikt-lang|ang|ġēar}}). 
In contrast to the modern word, it had a meaning of "season" and specifically "harvest", and hence "plenty, prosperity".

The Germanic word is cognate with  [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|ὧρος}} ({{tlit|grc|horos}}) "year" (and {{lang|grc|ὥρα}} ({{tlit|grc|hora}}) "season", whence ''hour''), [[Old East Slavic]] {{lang|orv|ꙗра}} ({{tlit|orv|jara}}) "spring" and with the ''-or-'' in Latin {{lang|la|hōrnus}} "of this year" (from ''*hōjōrō''),  as well as  [[Avestan]] {{wikt-lang|ae|𐬫𐬁𐬭𐬆}} ({{tlit|ae|yārə}}) "year", all from a [[PIE]] stem {{lang|ine-x-proto|yer-o-}}.

==Elder Futhark==
The derivation of the rune is uncertain; it may have been adapted from the [[History of the Latin alphabet#Classical Latin period|classical Latin alphabet's]] ''[[G]]'',<ref>{{Citation | last = Odenstedt | first = Bengt | year = 1990 | title = On the Origin and Early History of the Runic Script, Typology and Graphic Variation in the Older Futhark | place = Uppsala | isbn = 91-85352-20-9}}.</ref> ("[[C]] ([[ᚲ]]) with stroke"), or it may be a Germanic innovation. The letter in any case appears from the very earliest runic inscriptions, figuring on the [[Vimose inscriptions|Vimose comb]] inscription, ''harja''.

As the only rune of the Elder Futhark which was not [[Connected space|connected]], its evolution  was the most thorough transformation of all runes, and it was to have numerous graphical variants.<ref name="enoksen51"/>
In the later period of the Elder Futhark, during the 5th to 6th centuries, connected variants appear, and these are the ones that give rise to the  derivations in Anglo-Saxon (as ᛄ ''ger'' and ᛡ ''ior'') and Scandinavian (as ᛅ ''ár'') traditions.

==Gothic jer==
The corresponding [[Gothic alphabet|Gothic letter]] is 𐌾 (''j''), named ''jēr'', which is also based on the shape of the Elder Futhark rune. This is an exception, shared with [[Ur (rune)|urus]], due to the fact that neither the [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] nor the [[Greek alphabet|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''.

==Anglo-Saxon runes==
The rune in the [[Anglo-Saxon runes|futhorc]] is continued as ''gēr'', with its epigraphical variant {{runic|ᛡ}}, and its manuscript variant {{runic|ᛄ}} (which does appear at least once epigraphically, on the Brandon Pin). Manuscripts also record an ''ior'' rune with the shape of {{runic|ᛡ}}, but its authenticity is [[Pseudo-runes|questionable]].<ref>{{Citation | first = R | last = Page | title = An Introduction to English Runes | year = 1999 | pages = 42–46, 81}}.</ref>

==Younger Futhark {{anchor|From Elder to Younger Futhark}}==
{{see|Younger Futhark}}
During the 6th and 7th centuries, the initial ''j'' in *''jāra'' was lost in [[Proto-Norse]], which also changed the sound value of the rune from /j/ to an /a/ phoneme. 
The rune was then written as a vertical staff with a horizontal stroke in the centre, usually transliterated as '''A''', with majuscule, to distinguish it from the ansuz rune, '''a'''.

During the last phase of the Elder Futhark, the ''jēra''-rune came to be written as a vertical staff with two slanting strokes in the form of an X in its centre ([[Image:H-rune.png|10px]]). As the form of the rune had changed considerably, an older 7th century form of the rune ([[Image:Long-branch Sol.png|6px]]) was assumed by the [[Sowilo rune|s-rune]].<ref name="enoksen51">Enoksen 1998:51</ref> When the [[naudiz|n-rune]] had stabilized in its form during the 6th and 7th centuries, its vertical stroke slanted towards the right ([[Image:Runic letter naudiz.svg|10px]]), which made it possible to simplify the ''jēra''-rune by having only one vertical stroke that slanted towards the left, giving the {{Runic|ᛅ}} ''ár''-rune of the classic Younger Futhark (note however, that the earliest YF inscriptions, such as the [[Ribe skull fragment]], still retain the earlier X-shape).
Since a simpler form of the rune was taken by the /a/ phoneme, the older cross form of the rune now came to be used for the /h/ phoneme.<ref name="enoksen52">Enoksen 1998:52</ref>

{{anchor|Gallehus horns}}
The development of the Jēran rune from the earliest open form was not known before the discovery of the [[Kylver Stone]] in 1903, which has an entire [[elder futhark]] inscription on it. Therefore, the interpretation of the [[golden horns of Gallehus]] was slightly wrong before 1903, as it was believed this rune form could be an early form of the [[Ingwaz|Ingwaz rune]]. The second word on the horns was thus interpreted as ''holtingaz'' rather than ''holtijaz''.<ref>Enoksen 1998:56</ref>

==See also==
*[[Elder Futhark]]
*[[Rune poem]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin|2}}
* [[Lars Magnar Enoksen|Enoksen, Lars Magnar]] (1998). ''Runor: Historia, Tydning, Tolkning''. Historiska Media, Falun. {{ISBN|91-88930-32-7}}
* Looijenga, J. H. (1997). ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060728220636/http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/faculties/arts/1997/j.h.looijenga/ Runes around the North Sea and on the Continent AD 150-700]'', page 76. Dissertation, Groningen University
* [[Raymond Ian Page|Page, Raymond I.]] (2005). ''Runes''. The British Museum Press {{ISBN|0-7141-8065-3}}
{{refend}}

{{Runes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeran}}
[[Category:Runes]]
[[Category:Etymologies]]