Wyrdseidr

ᚦ þurs

Younger Futhark · position 3 · giant

Name
þurs
Meaning
giant
Transliteration
þ
Sounds
þ (voiceless th), ð (voiced th)
Unicode
U+16A6 runic letter thurisaz thurs thorn

Line of descent

ᚦ*þurisazElder Futhark→ ᚦþursYounger Futhark

History

þ continues the third rune of the Elder Futhark unchanged in shape: a stave with a triangular bow on the right. It writes the dental fricatives, both the voiceless sound in þing and the voiced sound in faðir. Old Norse spelling in Latin letters distinguishes þ and ð, but Viking Age runes do not. A dotted form for ð appears only in some medieval inscriptions.

The Scandinavian name is þurs "giant, ogre", a word also used of the hostile beings of myth. English tradition has þorn "thorn" instead, and the Gothic letter name (thyth in the Vienna manuscript) is different again. Which name is oldest is not known. Most handbooks reconstruct a Proto-Germanic *þurisaz, chiefly from the Norse form and from thuris in the 9th-century Abecedarium Nordmannicum. Both rune poems keep the giant. The Norwegian poem says that he causes women's sickness. The Icelandic poem calls him "dweller in the cliffs" and "husband of Varðrún" and glosses him with Latin Saturnus. Dickins drew attention to Skírnismál 36, where a þurs rune is carved as part of a curse, a use quite separate from the rune's everyday job as a letter.

In the Latin alphabet of medieval Scandinavia and England, þ was borrowed from the runes as a letter in its own right. Icelandic still uses it.

In the rune poems

The Old Norwegian Rune Poem, stanza 3
Þurs vældr kvinna kvillu;
kátr værðr fár af illu.
The giant causes sickness in women;
few are made cheerful by misfortune.
The Old Icelandic Rune Poem, stanza 3 · Latin gloss Saturnus · chieftain word þengill
Þurs er kvenna kvöl
ok kletta búi
ok varðrúnar verr.
Giant is the torment of women
and dweller in the cliffs
and husband of Varðrún.
Varðrún is a giantess named in the þulur. The Latin gloss equates the giant with Saturn.

Original text from the public-domain editions named on each poem's page; translations are our own.

Where it is found

  • Jelling stone 2 (DR 42): þausi 'this', þourui 'Þorwi (Thyra)'
  • Rök stone (Ög 136): þiaurikR 'Þjóðríkr (Theodoric)'
  • Gørlev stone (DR 239): þiauþui 'Þjóðvé', a woman's name

On inscriptions described on this site

Rök runestoneSmall Jelling stone (Gorm's stone)Large Jelling stone (Harald's stone)Ramsund carving (Sigurd carving)Piraeus LionMaeshowe runic inscriptionsBryggen rune-sticks

Sources

  • Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata), signa DR 42, Ög 136, DR 239
  • Dickins (1915), notes to the Norwegian poem, stanza 3
  • Wikipedia: Younger Futhark; Thurisaz (checked 2026-10-26)
← ᚢúróssᚬ →