þurs

þurs

1. Alternative form of thurs

• þuss

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”).

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

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

• 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

• þurs in An Icelandic-English Dictionary, R. Cleasby and G. Vigfússon, Clarendon Press, 1874, at Internet Archive.
• þurs in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, G. T. Zoëga, Clarendon Press, 1910, at Internet Archive.