Þurisaz
The third Elder Futhark rune, transliterated þ. The Norse tradition names it þurs, "giant"; the English tradition names it þorn. It is the ancestor of the letter þ still used in Icelandic.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᚦU+16A6
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER THURISAZ THURS THORN
- Alphabet
- Elder Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 150 – 800 (Roman Iron Age to the beginning of the Viking Age)
- Position
- 3, ætt 1
- Transliteration
- þ
- Sound value
- /θ/ , /ð/
- Name
- *þurisaz: giant, ogre, hostile supernatural beingReconstructed
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| *þurisaz | Proto-Germanic | giant, ogre, hostile supernatural being | Reconstructed |
| þorn | Old English | thorn | Attested |
| þurs | Old Norse | giant, troll | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
The Scandinavian tradition consistently gives þurs, "giant"; the English tradition gives þorn, "thorn". Which came first is disputed. The giant reading has the wider distribution, but the English one may preserve something older.
Sound value
The "th" sound, both voiceless as in "thin" and voiced as in "then": the Elder Futhark does not distinguish them. Its Old English descendant was borrowed out of the futhorc into Latin-script Old English as the letter thorn (þ), and it reached Icelandic through that insular scribal tradition rather than from the Norse runes directly.
Historical use
This is the rune most often associated with cursing formulas in the surviving corpus. Repeated þ-runes and þ-based formulas appear on objects such as the Sigtuna amulet and the Canterbury charm, and in the Bergen material, and Old Norse literary sources connect the þurs-rune with harm directed at women: in Skírnismál, Skírnir threatens Gerðr by carving þurs for her along with three further staves. Note the gap, though: every one of those is Younger Futhark or medieval, several centuries later than the Elder Futhark rune itself, so this is evidence about the tradition the rune fed into rather than about how it was used in AD 200.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Ðorn byþ ðearle scearp; ðegna gehwylcum anfeng ys yfyl, ungemetum reþe manna gehwelcum, ðe him mid resteð.The thorn is extremely sharp; for every warrior it is an evil thing to grasp, immeasurably cruel to anyone who rests among them.(our translation)
The Old English poem understands this rune as "thorn". The Norwegian and Icelandic poems understand the same rune as þurs, "giant". Both traditions are old, and neither is a corruption of the other.
Þurs vældr kvinna kvillu; kátr værðr fár af illu.The giant causes the sickness of women; few are made cheerful by misfortune.(our translation)
Þurs er kvenna kvöl ok kletta búi ok varðrúnar verr.The giant is the torment of women and the dweller in the cliffs and the husband of Varðrún.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: Saturnus ("Saturn") and þengill ("prince").
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
Third position in the futhark row.
A copper amulet whose Younger Futhark text invokes protection against a hostile being; among the clearest evidence for runes used apotropaically.
Signatures follow the Scandinavian Runic-text Database so you can look each inscription up directly. Each name links to the object's own entry.
Modern meaning
How this rune is read in contemporary divination, which is a separate question from what it meant historically.
Upright
Modern practice reads thurisaz as a sharp, dangerous force, a threat that can also be turned outward as a defence.
Reversed (modern practice calls this “merkstave”)
Danger turned inward, or a warning ignored. A modern convention.
Where this comes from: Unusually, the modern reading has decent historical footing: the giant and the thorn are both hostile images, and the rune does appear in hostile inscriptions.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this rune that circulate widely and do not hold up.
Thurisaz is sometimes marketed as "Thor's rune". The names are not related: Þórr and *þurisaz come from different roots, and a þurs is a giant: Thor's enemy, not Thor.
If you are considering a tattoo
Practical notes for anyone about to make this permanent.
The same rune in other alphabets
Runes descended from the same original character, so you can follow it through time.
The rest of ætt 1
Sources for this entry
Full references are on the sources page. If you think something here is wrong, our corrections policy explains how to say so.