þurs

See also: Thurs

Middle English

Noun

þurs

  1. alternative form of thurs

Old Norse

FWOTD – 12 March 2014

Alternative forms

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
  • → 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 Internet Archive
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