Tīwaz
The seventeenth Elder Futhark rune and the first of the third ætt, transliterated t. It is named after the god Týr, the same divine name that gives us Tuesday.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛏU+16CF
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER TIWAZ TIR TYR T
- Alphabet
- Elder Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 150 – 800 (Roman Iron Age to the beginning of the Viking Age)
- Position
- 17, ætt 3
- Transliteration
- t
- Sound value
- /t/
- Name
- *Tīwaz: the god Tīwaz; also "a god" generallyReconstructed
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| *Tīwaz | Proto-Germanic | the god Tīwaz; also "a god" generally | Reconstructed |
| tir | Old English | glory; a star or sign | Attested |
| týr | Old Norse | the god Týr | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
From the same Indo-European root as Greek Zeús and Latin deus and Iuppiter: an old sky-god name that in Germanic became the specific god Týr. The English day-name Tuesday preserves it.
Sound value
A /t/. In the Younger Futhark the same rune also has to write /d/, since the alphabet has no separate d-rune.
Variant forms
Alternative shapes for the same rune across regions and periods.
Younger Futhark short-twig týr
U+16D0
The simplified Viking-Age form.
Historical use
The Poetic Edda poem Sigrdrífumál instructs the hearer to carve "victory runes" and name Týr twice. This is often quoted as evidence that repeated t-runes were used for victory, but Sigrdrífumál is a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript poem, several centuries after the Elder Futhark, and no inscription clearly matches the instruction.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Tir biþ tacna sum, healdeð trywa wel wiþ æþelingas; a biþ on færylde ofer nihta genipu, næfre swiceþ.Tir is a particular sign; it keeps faith well with nobles; it is always on its course above the mists of night, and never fails.(our translation)
The stanza describes something celestial that holds a fixed course (often taken as a star or constellation) while the rune name itself corresponds to the god Týr.
Týr er æinendr ása; opt værðr smiðr blása.Týr is the one-handed one among the Æsir; the smith often has to blow.(our translation)
Týr er einhendr áss ok ulfs leifar ok hofa hilmir.Týr is the one-handed god and the leavings of the wolf and the ruler of temples.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: Mars and tiggi ("prince"). "The leavings of the wolf" refers to the myth in which Fenrir bites off Týr's hand.
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
Seventeenth position, opening the third ætt.
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
Read as victory won honourably, and as the willingness to sacrifice for a principle, a reference to the myth in which Týr loses his hand binding the wolf Fenrir.
Reversed (modern practice calls this “merkstave”)
Injustice, a cause not worth the cost, or failure of nerve. A modern convention.
Where this comes from: The victory association is the modern reading with the strongest literary support, thanks to Sigrdrífumál, though that source is far later than the rune.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this rune that circulate widely and do not hold up.
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 3
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.