The

rune Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, a ...

is called Thurs ( Old Norse '' Þurs'', a type of entity, from a reconstructed Common Germanic ') in the Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems. In the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

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 (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.

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 ' can be reconstructed (cf. Old English language, Old English ''þyrs'' "giant, ogre" and Old High German ''duris-es'' "(of the) giant").

Rune poems

The Germanic rune ᚦ is mentioned in three rune poems:

Name

Rune poems

References

See also