Ur (rune)

The reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the Elder Futhark "u" rune runic|ᚢ is *Ūruz meaning "wild ox"Page, R.I. (2005). "Runes", page 15. The British Museum Press ISBN 0-7141-8065-3] or *Ûram "water". It may have been derived from the Raetic alphabet charactrt "u" as it is similar in both shape and sound value. The name of the corresponding letter in the Gothic alphabet is "urus".

Rune poems

It is recorded in all three rune poems, and it is called Ur in all, however with different meanings:

The Icelandic word for "rain" and the Anglo-Saxon for "aurochs" go back to two different Proto-Germanic words, "ûruz" and "ûram" (although possibly from the same root). The Norwegian meaning "dross, slag" is more obscure, but may be an Iron Age technical term derived from the word for water (c.f. the Kalevala, where iron is compared to milk).

Because of this, it is difficult to reconstruct a Proto-Germanic name for the Elder Futhark rune. It may have been ûruz "aurochs" (see also Bull worship), or ûram "water". The aurochs 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", though: as the name of the letter