Úr
The second Younger Futhark rune, transliterated u. It carries an unusual load: with no separate o, y, ø or w runes in the alphabet, this one character had to write all of them.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᚢU+16A2
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER URUZ UR U
- Alphabet
- Younger Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 800 – 1100 (The Viking Age)
- Position
- 2, ætt 1
- Transliteration
- u
- Sound value
- /u/ , /o/ , /y/ , /ø/ , /w/
- Name
- úr: drizzle (Icelandic poem) or slag, dross (Norwegian poem)Attested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| úr | Old Norse | drizzle (Icelandic poem) or slag, dross (Norwegian poem) | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
The shape descends from Elder Futhark *ūruz, "aurochs", but the animal was long gone from Scandinavia and the word with it. The two Norse rune poems supply different replacement meanings, neither of which is the original.
Sound value
The hardest-working rune in the alphabet. With no separate runes for o, y, ø or w, this single character had to cover all of them alongside /u/: five distinct sounds sharing one sign.
Historical use
Extremely common, precisely because it had to do so much work. Reading Younger Futhark inscriptions is largely the art of deciding which of several possible vowels a given u-rune is standing for in context.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Úr er af illu jarne; opt løypr ræinn á hjarne.Dross comes from bad iron; the reindeer often runs over the frozen crust.(our translation)
The Norwegian poem takes úr as "slag, dross"; the Icelandic poem takes the same rune name as "drizzle". The Old English cognate ur is "aurochs". All three readings are old.
Úr er skýja grátr ok skára þverrir ok hirðis hatr.Drizzle is the weeping of the clouds and the spoiler of the hay-harvest and a thing the herdsman hates.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: umbre and vísi ("leader"). The Latin word is the manuscript reading and it does not fit: umbra means "shadow". Editors who want it to match úr as drizzle emend to imber, "rain shower".
Ur byþ anmod ond oferhyrned, felafrecne deor, feohteþ mid hornum mære morstapa; þæt is modig wuht.The aurochs is fierce and huge-horned, a very savage beast; it fights with its horns, a famous moor-stalker: that is a bold creature.(our translation)
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
The longest known runic inscription, around 760 runes, mixing short-twig, long-branch and several cipher systems in one monument.
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 Younger Futhark separately. Inventing a reading for Úr 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.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this rune that circulate widely and do not hold up.
Modern conversion tools frequently write English "o" and "w" with dedicated runes that did not exist in the Viking Age. In actual Younger Futhark, this one rune covers them.
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.