Thurisaz

Cognate: Thurse (in German and French) the name for giants of the frost, (and not cognate to the name of the God Thor!). Runic inscriptions of the Viking Age bear the name of Thor written as 'Thur' while the one of the Giants is 'Thurs'. This helps us understand why some confusion could happen. De Vries' etymological dictionary of Old Icelandic confirms this very neatly.

There are two forms for this rune, one with a point, , the other rounded . Both are equally frequent between 200 and 700.

Texts related to Thurisaz

Viking Rune Poem

Thurs (giant) causes the sickness of women.
Rare are those who rejoice in pain.

Icelandic Rune poem

Thurs (giant) is illness of women
and cliff-dweller
and husband of Varthrun [a giantess].

Old English Rune Poem

ðorn (thorn) is extremely sharp,
painful for any warrior to grasp,
immeasurably fierce to any man
who rests among them.

Old English Rune Poem, as translated by Marijane Osborn

The Thorn is sharp, a throbbing evil
For a woman to grasp, grim in the extreme
For one who likes to lie among them.

Gesta Danorum

[A young woman replies thus to a giant's proposal]

What young girl who is even a bit sensible would want to be a Giant’s doll? ... To become the wife of a demon knowing that his seed fathers monsters? ... Who would prick her fingers on thorns? Who would kiss mud without being soiled? Who would want that in a badly matched union hairy members intertwine her smooth body?

Third runic stanza of the Havamal

I know a third: if I have to repel the enemy attack,
If my need be great enough,
I will blunt the steel of my foes,
Their weapons will no longer bite.

Saga of Harvard of the Isafjord (Havardar Saga Isfirdings)

"You are as a troll, Thorgrim, and not as a man, since iron does not bite on you".

Beowulf

Sigemund tackles Grendel

They were ignorant of this, when they entered the fight,
boldly-intentioned battle-friends,
to hew at Grendel, hunt his life
on every side - that no sword on earth,
not the truest steel, could touch their assailant;
for by a spell he had dispossessed all
blades of their bite on him.

Sigemund tackles Grendel’s mother

He flourishes his weapon,
without holding back on the force of its strike, with a such violence
that the curved sword screamed on her head [Grendel’s mother]
a piercing battle cry. But the foreigner [Beowulf] saw
his fiery-the-battle [his sword] refuse to bite
or to give the least pain; the sharp steal betrays
the need of its master ...

Runes of Magic (called "beer")

You must know the runes of Magic.
[Boyer : If you want the wife of another Betray the faith, and feel confident]
[Auden et Taylor, Genzmer : Let the wife of another Not betray your confidence]
On horn, they must be engraved
And on the back of the hand
And mark Need on the nail.

Version found in Volsung's saga
Ale runes shall you know
If you desire no other's wife
To deceive you in troth, if you trust.
They shall be cut on the horn
And on the band's back
And mark the need rune on your nail.

One finds them ... On Gungnir's point [Odin's spear] (Thurisaz)
And on Grani's breast, [Sigurdr's horse] (Othala)
On the Norn's nail, (Naudiz)
And on the barn-owl's beak. (Algiz)

Groa's Blessing

If the painful cold weather
Finds you there up high in the mountain, Let the mortal cold
Move away from your body,
Let your being be saved!

Busla’s curse

Let the Dwarves, the Giants and the witch Norns
The Little People and the Trolls
Burn your house;
Let the Giants hate you,
Let the stallions rape you,
Let the straws pick you,
Let the storms shake you.
Be assaulted by all evils
If you do not follow my will!