View source for Thurisaz

{{short description|Runic alphabet letter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{infobox rune
| lang1 = pg | lang2 = oe | lang3 = on
| name1 = '''*Þurisaz'''
| name2 = '''Þorn'''
| name3 = '''Þurs'''
| meaning1 = "[[Jötunn|giant]]"
| meaning2 = "thorn"
| meaning3 = "[[Jötunn|giant]]"
| shape13 = [[File:Runic letter thurisaz.svg|x50px|class=skin-invert-image]]
| unicode hex13 = 16A6
| transliteration13 = '''þ'''
| transcription1 = ''þ''
| transcription23 = ''þ'', ''ð''
| IPA1 = {{IPA|[θ]}}
| IPA23 = {{IPA|[θ], [ð]}}
| position13 = 3
}}
{{Contains special characters|Runic|width=26em}}
The [[rune]] {{runic|ᚦ}} is called '''Thurs''' ([[Old Norse]] ''[[Jötunn|Þurs]]'', a type of entity, from a reconstructed [[Common Germanic]] ''{{lang|gem-x-proto|Þurisaz}}'') in the Icelandic and Norwegian [[rune poem]]s. In the [[Anglo-Saxon rune poem]] it is called '''thorn''', whence the name of the [[Thorn (letter)|letter þ]] derived. 
It is transliterated as ''þ'', and has the sound value of a [[voiceless dental fricative]] {{IPA|/θ/}} (the [[Pronunciation of English th|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.

The rune may have been an original innovation, or it may have been adapted from the [[History of the Latin alphabet#Classical Latin period|classical Latin alphabet's]] ''D'',<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> or from the [[Rhaetic alphabets|Rhaetic's alphabet's]] ''Θ''.<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Uni Frankfurt | last = Gippert | first = Jost | url = http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/idg/germ/runealph.htm | title = The Development of Old Germanic Alphabets | access-date = 2007-03-21 | archive-date = 2021-02-25 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210225051327/http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/didact/idg/germ/runealph.htm | url-status = live }}.</ref>

== Name==
In [[Anglo-Saxon England]], the same rune was called ''Thorn'' or "Þorn" and it survives as the [[Icelandic orthography|Icelandic]] letter [[Thorn (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 𐌸, the Gothic letter corresponding to Þ is an exception; it is recorded as ''þiuþ'' "(the) good" in the [[Codex Vindobonensis 795]], and as such unrelated to either ''þurs'' or ''þorn''.
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, a [[Common Germanic]] form ''{{lang|gem-x-proto|þurisaz}}'' can be  reconstructed (cf. [[Old English language|Old English]] ''þyrs'' "giant, ogre" and  [[Old High German]] ''duris-es'' "(of the) giant").

==Rune poems==
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{{more citations needed|date=August 2020}}
The Germanic rune ᚦ is mentioned in three [[rune poem]]s:<ref>{{cite book | first=Bruce | last=Dickins | title=Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples (1915) | publisher=Cornell University Library | date=12 June 2009 | asin=B003E7F8LW}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
| '''Rune Poem:'''<ref>Original poems and translation from the [http://www.ragweedforge.com/poems.html Rune Poem Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990501094729/http://www.ragweedforge.com/poems.html |date=1999-05-01 }}.</ref>
| '''English Translation:''' 
|-
| 
'''[[Old Norwegian]]'''
<br />{{runic|ᚦ}} Þurs vældr kvinna kvillu,
<br />kátr værðr fár af illu.
|
<br />Thurs ["Giant"] causes anguish to women,
<br />misfortune makes few men cheerful.
|- 
| 
'''[[Old Icelandic]]'''
<br />{{runic|ᚦ}} Þurs er kvenna kvöl
<br />ok kletta búi
<br />ok varðrúnar verr.
<br />''[[Saturn (mythology)|Saturnus]]'' þengill.
| 
<br />Thurs ["Giant"] is torture of women
<br />and cliff-dweller
<br />and husband of a giantess
<br />Saturn's [[thegn]]. [The source of this line in the poem is unclear.]
|-
| 
'''[[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]]'''
<br />{{runic|ᚦ}} Ðorn bẏþ ðearle scearp;
<br />ðegna gehƿẏlcum anfeng ẏs ẏfẏl,
<br />ungemetum reþe manna gehƿẏlcun,
<br />ðe him mid resteð.
| 
<br />The thorn is exceedingly sharp,
<br />an evil thing for any thegn to touch,
<br />uncommonly severe on all who sit among them.
|-
|colspan=2 |'''Notes:'''
* In the Icelandic poem, ''Saturn'' possibly refers to [[Ymir]] or [[Útgarða-Loki]].
|}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== See also ==

* [[Rune poem]]
* [[Old English rune poem]]

{{Runes}}

[[Category:Runes|Thurs]]