Tiwaz (rune)


The t-rune is named after Týr, and was identified with this god. The reconstructed Proto-Germanic name is *Tîwaz or *Teiwaz. Tiwaz rune was an ideographic symbol for a spear.

Rune poems

Tiwaz is mentioned in all three rune poems. In the Icelandic and Norwegian poems, the rune is associated with the god Týr.
stanzatranslationcomments

Old Norwegian

Týr er æinendr ása;

opt værðr smiðr blása.

Tyr is a one-handed god;

often has the smith to blow.
smiðr blása -> To blow on the coals making them hot for metal working

Old Icelandic

Týr er einhendr áss

ok ulfs leifar

ok hofa hilmir

Mars tiggi.

Tyr = god with one hand

and leavings of the wolf

and prince of temples.		"Mars tiggi" is a "more or less accurate ".

Old English

Tir biþ tacna sum, healdeð tryƿa ƿel

ƿiþ æþelingas; a biþ on færylde

ofer nihta genipu, næfre sƿiceþ.

is a star; well does it keep faith

with princes; it is ever on its course

over the mists of night and never fails.		"Fame, honour" is a gloss written alongside the rune. Several interpretations have been offered, typically involving association with the north star, as the words tacna and færyld have astronomical connotations.

Usage

Ancient

Multiple Tiwaz runes

Multiple Tiwaz runes either stacked atop one another to resemble a tree-like shape, or repeated after one another, appear several times in Germanic paganism:

Poetic Edda

According to the runologist Lars Magnar Enoksen, the Tiwaz rune is referred to in a stanza in Sigrdrífumál, a poem in the Poetic Edda.
Sigrdrífumál tells that Sigurd has slain the dragon Fafnir and arrives at a fortress of shields on top of a mountain which is lit by great fires. In the fortress, he finds an enchanted sleeping valkyrie whom he wakes by cutting open her corslet with his sword. The grateful valkyrie, Sigrdrífa, offers him the secrets of the runes in return for delivering her from the sleep, on condition that he shows that he has no fear. She begins by teaching him that if he wants to achieve victory in battle, he is to carve "victory runes" on his sword and twice say the name "Týr" - the name of the Tiwaz rune.

Name in Futhorc

Futhorc manuscripts give different names to the t-rune. Sangallensis 270 and Vindobonensis 795 call the rune "Ti", while Cotton MS Domitian A IX calls it "Tir", and the Byrhtferth's Manuscript calls it "Tyr". Ti may be an uninflected form of the possessive "Tiwes" as found in "Tiwesdæg", which would make it the name of an English god. Similar spellings of this god's name are attested to in Old English.
It is possible that Ti was an older name for the rune, but was changed to Tir/Tyr. If such a change occurred, it may have been due to Norse or Christian influence. Supporting the Norse hypothesis is the fact that the Norse called their t-rune "Tyr". Supporting the Christian hypothesis is the fact that the English rune poem seems to indicate that "Tir" is some kind of celestial body, implying that the rune's name may have been slightly altered so that it would no longer be the name of a heathen god. However, even if the Christian hypothesis were true, there is reason to believe this celestial body was the planet Mars, meaning the rune would still be indirectly named after the same god.

Modern

Germanic neopaganism

The Týr rune is commonly used by Germanic neopagans to symbolize veneration of the god Týr.

Usage in Nazism and Neo-Nazism

The Týr rune in Guido von List's Armanen Futharkh was based on the version found in the Younger Futhark. List's runes were later adopted and modified by Karl Maria Wiligut, who was responsible for their adoption by the Nazis, and they were subsequently widely used on insignia and literature during the Third Reich. It was the badge of the Sturmabteilung training schools, the Reichsführerschulen in Nazi Germany.
In Neo-Nazism it has appeared, together with the Sowilo rune, in the emblem of the Kassel-based think tank Thule Seminar. It has also appeared as the former logo of the fashion label Thor Steinar, which was banned in Germany over resemblance to SS officer uniforms, and the Scandinavia-based Nordic Resistance Movement which uses the symbol onto a diamond with stripes in green, white, and black. The symbol was one of the numerous Nazi/neo-Nazi and fascist symbols/slogans used by the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shootings Brenton Harrison Tarrant alongside the Black Sun, the Othala/Odal rune, the Celtic Cross, the Kolovrat swastika, the Fourteen Words, and the Archangel Michael's Cross of the pro-Nazi Romanian organization Iron Guard.

Olympics

In 2018 the symbol was incorporated on the sweaters of the 2018 Norwegian Alpine ski team.

Popular culture