ELDER FUTHARK · TYR'S AETT · RUNE 17 OF 24
Tiwaz ᛏ
“The god Tyr” · the sound t
IN A READING
Justice, sacrifice, honour.
REVERSED
Injustice, cowardice, defeat.
IN MAGIC
Victory in just causes; courage; legal matters.
In the rune poems
Three medieval poems give a short verse to each rune's name, the oldest record of what the names meant. What they stress for Tiwaz: a guiding star that keeps faith, never failing.
THE OLD ENGLISH RUNE POEM · ᛏ TIR
Tir biþ tacna sum,healdeð trywa welwiþ æþelingas;a biþ on færyldeofer nihta genipu,næfre swiceþ.
Known only from George Hickes's printing of 1705; the manuscript burned in the Cotton library fire of 1731.
THE OLD ICELANDIC RUNE POEM · ᛏ TÝR
Týr er einhendr ássok ulfs leifarok hofa hilmir.
For the sixteen runes of the Younger Futhark, in manuscripts from about 1500.
The verses are given in their own languages, Old English from Bruce Dickins's edition (1915) as transcribed on Wikisource, Old Icelandic as normalised in Wikipedia's article on the rune poems. Square brackets mark words the editors restored.
In the later rows
Anglo-Saxon futhorc
ᛏTir
Younger Futhark
ᛏTýr
Tyr's aett
The futhark falls into three rows of eight, the aettir. Tiwaz is number 1 of Tyr's aett:
Learn more in the lessons
- The Elder Futhark Runes · 15 min
- Runes in Magic · 15 min
- The Younger Futhark and the Runestones · 18 min