Wyrd is a concept in Anglo-Saxon and Nordic culture roughly corresponding to Fate. It is ancestral to Modern English weird, which has acquired a very different signification. The cognate term in old Norse is Urðr, with a similar meaning, but also personalized as one of the Norns, Urðr (anglicized Urd). The concept corresponding to "fate" in Old Norse is Ørl?g. The Well of Urd is the holy well, the Well Spring, the source of water for the world tree Yggdrasil. Etymology Old English Wyrd is, derived from Proto-Germanic *wurþiz, Proto-Indo-European *wrti-, a verbal abstract from the root *wert- "to turn" (Latin vertere), related to the Old English verb weorþan, meaning "to grow into, to become" (compare German werden). In its literal sense, it refers to "that which turns o