Naudiz


*Naudiz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the n-rune, meaning "need, distress". In the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, it is continued as nyd, in the Younger Futhark as, Icelandic naud and Old Norse nauðr. The corresponding Gothic letter is ? n, named nauþs.
The rune is recorded in all three rune poems:
Rune Poem:English Translation:

Old Norwegian

Nauðr gerer næppa koste;

nøktan kælr í froste.


Constraint gives scant choice;

a naked man is chilled by the frost.

Old Icelandic

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

Nyd byþ nearu on breostan;

ƿeorþeþ hi þeah oft niþa bearnum

to helpe and to hæle gehƿæþre,

gif hi his hlystaþ 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.