Gyfu

For other uses, see Giba (disambiguation).

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Name	Proto-Germanic	Anglo-Saxon
	*Geƀō	Gyfu; Gar
	"gift"	"gift"; "spear"
Shape	Elder Futhark	Futhorc
Shape
Unicode	ᚷ U+16B7	ᚷ ᚸ U+16B7 U+16B8
Transliteration	g	ȝ; g
Transcription	g	ȝ, g; g
IPA	[ɣ]	[g], [ɣ], [ʎ], [j]; [g]
Position in rune-row	7	7; 33

Gyfu is the name for the g-rune ᚷ in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, meaning "gift" or "generosity":

Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem:^[1]	English Translation:
ᚷ Gyfu gumena byþ gleng and herenys, wraþu and wyrþscype and wræcna gehwam ar and ætwist, ðe byþ oþra leas.	Generosity brings credit and honour, which support one's dignity; it furnishes help and subsistence to all broken men who are devoid of aught else.

The corresponding letter of the Gothic alphabet is 𐌲 g, called giba. The same rune also appears in the Elder Futhark, with a suggested Proto-Germanic name *gebô "gift". J. H. Looijenga speculates^[2] that the rune is directly derived from Latin Χ, the pronunciation of which may have been similar to Germanic gs in the 1st century, e.g., Gothic reihs compared to Latin rex (as opposed to the Etruscan alphabet, where /𐌗 had a value of [s]).

Gyfu

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