Wyrdseidr

ᚢ úr

Younger Futhark · position 2 · drizzle; slag (the old meaning was aurochs)

Name
úr
Meaning
drizzle; slag (the old meaning was aurochs)
Transliteration
u
Sounds
u, o, y, ø, and the consonant w/v
Unicode
U+16A2 runic letter uruz ur u

Line of descent

ᚢ*ūruzElder Futhark→ ᚢúrYounger Futhark

History

u keeps the shape of the Elder Futhark u rune, an inverted U with a long left stave, and its place as the second rune. Its job grew a great deal. The Younger Futhark had no separate runes for o, y or ø, so u stood for all the rounded vowels as well as for the consonant w (later v). A reader of a Viking Age inscription has to decide from context which sound is meant. On the smaller Jelling stone, Gormr's name is spelled kurmR (DR 41), with u for o. On the larger stone (DR 42), nuruiak is Norwæg "Norway", with u for both o and w.

The name úr does not have one meaning in the sources. The original Germanic name (see uruz) probably meant "aurochs", the meaning still found in the Old English poem. In Norse the wild ox had long been forgotten. The Icelandic poem takes úr as "drizzle, fine rain" ("weeping of the clouds"). The Norwegian poem says that "úr comes from bad iron", which Dickins understood as "slag, dross", citing Icelandic dialect usage. The two poems are therefore using two different homonyms.

In the medieval period a dotted form, ᚤ, was introduced for y (and sometimes ø). It was among the earliest dotted runes, together with dotted i for e and dotted k for g.

In the rune poems

The Old Norwegian Rune Poem, stanza 2
Úr er af illu jarne;
opt løypr ræinn á hjarne.
Slag comes from bad iron;
often the reindeer runs on the frozen snow.
Dickins took úr as 'slag, dross', citing Icelandic usage. The Icelandic poem uses úr for 'drizzle', and the old meaning of the name was 'aurochs'.
The Old Icelandic Rune Poem, stanza 2 · Latin gloss umbre · chieftain word vísi
Úr er skýja grátr
ok skára þverrir
ok hirðis hatr.
Drizzle is the weeping of clouds
and destroyer of the hay-swathes
and the herdsman's hatred.
Umbre is a scribal error for Latin imber 'shower'. Skára þverrir is uncertain; Wimmer read skara 'ice-edges'.

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

Where it is found

  • Jelling stone 1 (DR 41): kurmR kunukR 'King Gormr', u for o and u
  • Jelling stone 2 (DR 42): nuruiak 'Norway', u for o and w
  • Gørlev stone (DR 239), position 2 of the row

On inscriptions described on this site

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

Sources

  • Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata), signa DR 41, DR 42, DR 239
  • Dickins (1915), notes to the Norwegian poem, stanza 2
  • Barnes, Runes: a Handbook (2012), pp. 93–94
  • Wikipedia: Medieval runes (checked 2026-10-26)
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