Tir

The seventeenth futhorc rune, transliterated t. Its name relates to the god Tīw, but the Old English poem describes a star holding its course, not a deity.

U+16CFtransliterated t/t/ætt 3c. AD 400 – 1100

At a glance

Rune: ᛏU+16CF
Unicode name: RUNIC LETTER TIWAZ TIR TYR T
Alphabet: Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
In use: c. AD 400 – 1100 (Early medieval England and Frisia)
Position: 17, ætt 3
Transliteration: t
Sound value: /t/
Name: tir: glory, fame; also apparently a star or celestial signAttested

Names

How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.

Form	Language	Meaning	Evidence
tir	Old English	glory, fame; also apparently a star or celestial sign	Attested

An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.

Etymology

The god-name behind this rune is *Tīwaz, the same name that gives Tuesday. But the English poem describes something that keeps a fixed course above the mists of night, which reads as a star or constellation rather than a deity: the Christian-era tradition seems to have shifted the name away from the god.

ContestedPage 1999; Halsall 1981

Sound value

A /t/. English kept a separate d-rune, so this rune did not have to double up as it does in the Younger Futhark.

Historical use

Common. The contrast with the Norse poems is instructive: they name Týr outright and allude to his myth, while the English poem talks about navigation. Both are Christian-era texts making different choices about pagan material.

AttestedPage 1999

Rune-poem evidence

The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.

The Old English Rune PoemTir · Old English · Anglo-Saxon Futhorc

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.

The Norwegian Rune PoemTýr · Old Norse · Younger Futhark

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)

Read with care: The Norse tradition names the god directly, where the English poem does not.

Attested in

Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.

Thames scramasaxRiver Thames, London · 10th century
Seventeenth in the inlaid futhorc row.

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

Why this entry has none.

None is given here. Modern rune divination is built almost entirely on the Elder Futhark, and no established modern tradition reads the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc separately. Inventing a reading for Tir to fill the space would be exactly the kind of fabrication this site exists to flag, so the field is left empty rather than filled. Its Elder Futhark ancestor is linked further down and does carry a modern reading, labelled as modern. How modern rune meanings were arrived at is a separate discussion.