Jēra
Gēr
Jēran or Jæran (*jē2ram; Gothic jēr, Anglo-Frisian ȝēr /yēr/, Old High German and Old Saxon jār, Old Norse ār) "harvest, (good) year" is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the j-rune ᛃ of the Elder Futhark. Proto-Germanic *jē2ram is cognate with Avestan yāre "year", Greek ὧρος "year" (and ὥρα "season", whence hour), Slavonic jarŭ "spring" and with the -or- in Latin hornus "of this year" (from *ho-jōrinus), all from a PIE stem *yer-o-. The rune in the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc is continued as ᛄ Gēr and ᛡ Ior, the latter a bind rune of Gyfu and Is (compare also ᛠ Ear). Its name is continued as ᛅ Ár in the Younger Futhark. The corresponding Gothic letter is 𐌾 j, named jer, which is also based on the shape of the Elder Futhark rune. This is an exception, shared with urus, due to the fact that neither the Latin nor the Greek alphabets at the time of the introduction of the Gothic one had graphemes corresponding to the distinction of j and w from i and u. The derivation of the rune is uncertain; some scholars see it as a modification of Latin G ("C (ᚲ) with stroke") while others consider it a Germanic innovation. The letter in any case appears from the very earliest runic inscriptions, figuring on the Vimose comb inscription, harja.
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