the Latin alphabet. On runic inscriptions, often appears as a magical symbol. The name first occurs in the historical record as tyz, a character in the Gothic alphabet (4th century), and it was also known as or in Old English, and in Old Norse. The name of may also occur in runes as on the 8th century Ribe skull fragment. Toponyms A variety of place names in Scandinavia refer to the god. For example, , in Viby, Jutland, Denmark (Old Norse , ''s meadow') was once a stretch of meadow near a stream called ('stream of the dead' or 'dead stream'). Viby also contained another theonym, ("Odin's Holt"), and religious practices associated with Odin and may have occurred in these places. A spring dedicated to Holy Niels that was likely a Christianization of prior indigenous pagan practice also exists in Viby. may mean 'the settlement by the sacred site'. Archaeologists have found traces of sacrifices going back 2,500 years in Viby. The forest , between Närke and Västergötland, in Sweden, may mean 'Tyr's forest', but its etymology is uncertain, and debated. may refer to meaning 'god' generally, and so the name may derive from Proto-Indo-European , meaning 'the forest of the gods'. According to Rudolf Simek, the existence of a cult of the deity is also evidenced by place names such as (''s grove'), which is frequent in Denmark, or (''s peninsula') and ('Tysnes island') in Norway, where the cult appears to have been imported from Denmark. Attestations Roman era While 's etymological heritage reaches back to the Proto-Indo-European period, very few direct references to the god survive prior to the Old Norse period. Like many other non-Roman deities, receives mention in Latin texts by way of the process of , in which Latin texts refer to the god by way of a perceived counterpart in Roman mythology. Latin inscriptions and texts frequently refer to as Mars. The first example of this occurs on record in Roman senator Tacitus's ethnography : Among the gods Mercury is the one they principally worship. They regard it as a religious duty to sacrifice to him, on fixed days, human as well as other sacrificial victims. Hercules and Mars they appease by animal offerings of the permitted kind. Part of the Suebi sacrifice to Isis as well. A.R. Birley translation These deities are generally understood by scholars to refer to (known widely today as