Uruz (ᚢ)
Pronunciation: OO-rooz · Latin equivalent: U · Freyr’s ætt, second rune
Name and meaning
Proto-Germanic ūruz, the aurochs — the wild ox of northern Europe, hunted to extinction in the 1600s. The Anglo-Saxon poem remembers it truly: a fierce beast with great horns that fights for its life. Untamed strength, older than fences.
In the rune poems
Attested in all three, though the name drifted: the Anglo-Saxon poem keeps the aurochs, while by the Norwegian and Icelandic poems úr had come to mean “slag” and “drizzle” — a good reminder that even rune-names were living, shifting words rather than fixed doctrine.
Upright
Vitality, raw health, endurance, the body’s deep reserves. Strength that must be met and channeled rather than owned — you do not saddle an aurochs. A good omen for recovery, stamina, and undertakings that need brute persistence.
Merkstave
Strength misdirected or draining away: illness, weakness, force wasted against the wrong wall — or domination, someone else’s untamed strength loose in your field.
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