- Name
- nyd
- Meaning
- need, distress, compulsion
- Transliteration
- n
- Sound
- /n/
- Unicode
U+16BErunic letter naudiz nyd naud n
Line of descent
History
The n rune is the elder form, an upright crossed by a short slanting stroke, with its value unchanged. The English name nyd (West Saxon nied, Codex Vindobonensis 795 naed) matches Old Norse nauðr and Gothic nauþs. All mean "need" in the sense of hardship or compulsion, so the elder name *naudiz is secure.
The rune poem gives the idea a Christian, moral turn. Need is "tight on the breast" but can become help and healing for those who heed it in time. The Norwegian poem is blunter: "need leaves a narrow choice; the naked man is chilled by the frost". Cynewulf also used the rune for its name. In the runic signature of Elene (line 1260), the n rune stands for the word nyd in the verse, and the reader must supply the name to read the line.
In inscriptions the rune is common. It occurs in on and hronæs on the front of the Franks Casket and in on rodi on the Ruthwell Cross.
In the rune poems
to helpe and to hæle gehwæþre, gif hi his hlystaþ æror.
a help and a healing all the same, if they heed it in time.
Original text from the public-domain editions named on each poem's page; translations are our own.
Where it is found
- Seax of Beagnoth, position 10
- Franks Casket, front panel: on, grorn, hronæs
- Cynewulf, Elene line 1260, rune used for the word nyd
On inscriptions described on this site
Sources
- Dickins (1915), pp. 14–15 and note to v. 27.
- Wikipedia, 'Franks Casket', checked 2026-10.