Naudiz

Name	Proto-Germanic	Old English	Old Norse
	*Naudiz	Nȳd	Nauðr
	"need, hardship"
Shape	Elder Futhark	Futhorc	Younger Futhark
Unicode	ᚾ U+16BE		ᚾ U+16BE	ᚿ U+16BF
Transliteration	n
Transcription	n
IPA	[n]
Position in rune-row	10		8

*Naudiz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the n-rune ᚾ, meaning "need, distress". In the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, it is continued as ᚾ nyd, in the Younger Futhark as ᚾ, Icelandic naud and Old Norse nauðr. The corresponding Gothic letter is 𐌽 n, named nauþs.

The rune may have been an original innovation, or it may have been adapted from the Rhaetic's alphabet's N.^[1]

The valkyrie Sigrdrífa in Sigrdrífumál talks (to Sigurd) about the rune as a beer-rune and that "You should learn beer-runes if you don’t want another man’s wife to abuse your trust if you have a tryst. Carve them on the drinking-horn and on the back of your hand, and carve the rune ᚾ on your fingernail."

The rune is recorded in all three rune poems:

Rune Poem:[2]	English Translation:
Old Norwegian ᚾ Nauðr gerer næppa koste; nøktan kælr í froste.	Constraint gives scant choice; a naked man is chilled by the frost.
Old Icelandic ᚾ Nauð er Þýjar þrá ok þungr kostr ok vássamlig verk. opera niflungr.	Constraint is grief of the bond-maid and state of oppression and toilsome work.
Anglo-Saxon ᚾ Nẏd bẏþ nearu on breostan; ƿeorþeþ hi þeah oft niþa bearnum to helpe and to hæle gehƿæþre, gif hi his hlẏstaþ æror.	Trouble is oppressive to the heart; yet often it proves a source of help and salvation to the children of men, to everyone who heeds it betimes.

See also

• Elder Futhark
• Younger Futhark
• Rune poem

References

1. Gippert, Jost, The Development of Old Germanic Alphabets, Uni Frankfurt, archived from the original on 2021-02-25, retrieved 2007-03-21.
2. Original poems and translation from the Rune Poem Page Archived 1999-05-01 at the Wayback Machine.