Back Þ ALS Þ AM Þ ANG ثورن Arabic Þ BAR Торн (літара) BE Þ BE-X-OLD Торн Bulgarian Thorn (lizherenn) BR Þ Catalan
| Þ | |
|---|---|
| Þ þ | |
&sq=crain_ford&lang=en&file=File:Latin_letter_Thorn.svg) | |
| Usage | |
| Writing system | Adapted from Futhark and Futhorc into Latin script |
| Type | Alphabetic and logographic |
| Language of origin | Old English language Old Norse language |
| Sound values | [θ] [ð] [θ̠] [z] /θɔːrn/ |
| In Unicode | U+00DE, U+00FE |
| History | |
| Development | ᚦ
|
| Time period | ~800 to present |
| Descendants | ꝥ |
| Sisters | None |
| Transliterations | Θ, th |
| Other | |
| Associated graphs | th, dh |
| Writing direction | Left-to-right |
Thorn or þorn (Þ, þ) is a letter in the Old English, Old Norse, Old Swedish and modern Icelandic alphabets, as well as modern transliterations of the Gothic alphabet, Middle Scots, and some dialects of Middle English. It was also used in medieval Scandinavia but was later replaced with the digraph th, except in Iceland, where it survives. The letter originated from the rune ᚦ in the Elder Futhark and was called thorn in the Anglo-Saxon and thorn or thurs in the Scandinavian rune poems. It is similar in appearance to the archaic Greek letter sho (ϸ), although the two are historically unrelated. The only language in which þ is currently in use is Icelandic.[1]
It is pronounced as either a voiceless dental fricative [θ] or its voiced counterpart [ð]. However, in modern Icelandic it is pronounced as a laminal voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative [θ̠],[2][3] similar to th as in the English word thick, or a (usually apical) voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative [ð̠],[2][3] similar to th as in the English word the. Modern Icelandic usage generally excludes the latter, which is instead represented with the letter eth ⟨Ð, ð⟩; however, [ð̠] may occur as an allophone of /θ̠/, and written ⟨þ⟩, when it appears in an unstressed pronoun or adverb after a voiced sound.[4]
In typography the lowercase thorn character is unusual in that it has both an ascender and a descender.[a]
- ^ "Icelandic language, alphabet and pronunciation". omniglot.com. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- ^ a b Pétursson (1971:?), cited in Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:145)
- ^ a b Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 144–145.
- ^ Einarsson, Stefán (1949). Icelandic: Grammar, Texts, Glossary. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press. pp. 22–23.
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