Ur (rune)

Name	Proto-Germanic	Old English		Old Norse
	*Ūruz/*Ūrą	Ūr	Ȳr	Úr	stung Úr
	"aurochs"/"water"	"aurochs"	?	“windy, cold drizzle/snowfall” “dross”
Shape	Elder Futhark	Futhorc		Younger Futhark
Unicode	ᚢ U+16A2	ᚢ U+16A2	ᚣ U+16A3	ᚢ U+16A2	ᚤ U+16A4
Transliteration	u	u	y	u	y
Transcription	u	u	y	u, o, y, œ w / v	y, œ v
IPA	[u(ː)]	[u(ː)]	[y(ː)]
Position in rune-row	2	2	27	2₁	2₂

Ur is the recorded name for the rune ᚢ, found as the second rune in all runic alphabets (futharks), i.e. Elder Futhark, Anglo-Saxon Futhark and Younger Futhark. It corresponds to the letter U in the Latin alphabet, but also carries other sound values, especially in Younger Futhark, were its sound values correspond to U, O, Y, Œ, W and V in the Latin alphabet.

It may have been derived from the Raetic alphabet character u as it is similar in both shape and sound value. It is also found as the 16th letter in the Gothic alphabet (𐌿), the corresponding name being urus.

Elder name

The rune is recorded in all three rune poems (Old English, Norwegian, Icelandic), and it is called Ur in all, however with different meanings in each.

Because of this, it is difficult to reconstruct a Proto-Germanic name for the Elder Futhark rune. It may have been *ūruz "aurochs" (see also Bull worship), based on the Old English rune poem, the oldest recorded of the three, or *ūrą "water", based on the Icelandic rune poems (and to some extent the Norwegian rune poem), with both Proto-Germanic words, however, possibly stemming from the same root.

The aurochs name is preferred by authors of modern runic divination systems, but both seem possible, compared to the names of the other runes: "water" would be comparable to "hail" and "lake", and "aurochs" to "horse" or "elk" (although the latter name is itself uncertain). The Gothic alphabet seems to support "aurochs" as the prior name, though: as the name of the letter 𐌿 u is urus.

Old English rune poem

In the Old English rune poem, recorded in the 8th or 9th century, the rune is named Ūr, Old English for “aurochs” (compare with Old Norse: úrr), stemming from a Proto-Germanic word: *ūruz.

Old English (8th–9th c.) ᚢ Ur bẏþ anmod ond oferhẏrned, felafrecne deor, feohteþ mid hornum mære morstapa; þæt is modig ƿuht.

English Translation: The aurochs is proud and has great horns; it is a very savage beast and fights with its horns; a great ranger of the moors, it is a creature of mettle.

Norwegian rune poem

In the Norwegian rune poem, recorded in the 13th century, the rune is named úr, with the Old Norwegian meaning of “dross, slag”. This sense is obscure, but may be an Iron Age technical term derived from the word for water (compare the Kalevala, where iron is compared to milk).

Old Norwegian (13th c.) ᚢ Úr er af illu jarne; opt løypr ræinn á hjarne.

English Translation: Dross/Slag is of ill iron; often leap (strut) the reindeer over the frozen snow.

Icelandic rune poem

In the Icelandic rune poems, recorded in the 16th century, the rune is named úr, an Old Norse word describing some type of precipitation weather (related to Old English: ēar, “wave, sea”, potentially also “urine”). It stems from a Proto-Germanic word: *ūrą, possibly begun by a w-, as found in related words (Swedish: var, “pus”, Old English: wær, “sea”) and historical variants of úr (Old Swedish: vur), as Proto-Germanic words starting with a w, followed by o or u, generally lost the w-sound when evolving from Proto-Norse into Old Norse (compare Proto-Germanic: *wulfaz, “wolf”, Old Norse: ulfr).

There are several Icelandic manuscripts with rune poems, all varying to some degree. The oldest manustript, catalogued as AM687d, is from around 1500. The second oldest, catalogued as AM461, is from around 1550. These have been noted to be hard to read, thus the transliterations might be incorrect.

AM687d

Icelandic (ca. 1500): ᚢ Úr er skýja grátr ok skára þverrir ok hirðis hatr. umbre vísi

English Translation: Drizzle is skies crying and cuts (falls) diagonally across and shepherd's hatred. umbre vísi?

AM461

Icelandic (ca. 1550): ᚢ Úr er skýja grátur og skárargs gata, þorir? og hirðis hatur, siðförull seggur.

English Translation: Drizzle is skies crying and skárargs? path, the daring? and shepherd's hatred, the late traveling man.?

In Old Icelandic, the word (úr) is recorded as meaning “drizzle”, “light rain” and thereof (in the sense of “cold and damp weather”). In Old and Contemporary Swedish, the word (ur) essentially means “blustery and profuse snowfall, sleet or rain” etc, if not outright “bad weather”. In Danish and Norwegian, the word (ur) means “northern rainclouds”, or just “rainclouds”, but also “cold, biting draft” and thereof etc. There is also a variant, ýr (yr), in all Nordic languages, meaning “drizzle” in Old Icelandic, including “fine dense snowfall” and “snowstorm” in Norwegian and Swedish. A derivative, yra (a verb), also exist, meaning “to drizzle” and thereof in Old Icelandic, and “swirl, whirl, drift”, in the sense of snow, sand, dust affected by the wind, in Swedish, etc.