þurs

See also: Thurs

Middle English

Noun

þurs

1. Alternative form of thurs

Old Norse

FWOTD – 12 March 2014

Alternative forms

• þuss

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *þursaz, *þurisaz (“giant, name of the Þ-rune”). Cognate with Old English þyrs, Old Saxon thuris, Old High German durs, duris. See also Finnish turisas, Tursas, turso. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tur-, *twer- (“to rotate, twirl, swirl, move”).

Pronunciation

• (9th century West Norse, 12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈθurs/

Noun

þurs m (genitive þurs, plural þursar)

1. (Norse mythology) a giant, ogre, monster
   • Vǫluspá, verse 8, lines 5-6, in 1860, T. Möbius, Edda Sæmundar hins fróða: mit einem Anhang zum Theil bisher ungedruckter Gedichte. Leipzig, page 2:

     […] unz þrjár kvámu / þursa meyjar […]

     […] until three came / giant-maidens […]

2. a dunce, numskull
   • Heilræðavísur, in 1933, H. Pétursson, Heilræði Hallgríms Péturssonar:

     […] en þursinn heimskr þegja hlýtr, […]

     […] but a stupid dunce must remain silent, […]

3. the name of the Þ-rune

Declension

Declension of þurs (strong a-stem)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	þurs	þursinn	þursar	þursarnir
accusative	þurs	þursinn	þursa	þursana
dative	þursi	þursinum	þursum	þursunum
genitive	þurs	þursins	þursa	þursanna

Derived terms

• þursaberg (“a kind of hone”)
• þursaskegg (“a kind of coral or seaweed”)
• þursi (“dunce”)
• þursligr (“giant-like”)

Descendants

• Icelandic: þurs
• Faroese: tussur
• Norwegian Nynorsk: tuss, tusse
• Norwegian Bokmål: tuss, tusse
• Swedish: tuss, tusse (dialectal)
• Old Danish: tusse, tosse
  • Danish: tosse
• → Scottish Gaelic: tursa

Further reading

• Richard Cleasby, Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1874) “þurs”, in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press, page 750
• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “þurs”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 520; also available at the [https://archive.org/stream/concisedictionar001857

1. page/520 Internet Archive]