Name | Proto-Germanic | Old English | Old Norse |
---|---|---|---|
*Laguz/*Laukaz | Lagu | Lögr | |
"lake"/"leek" | "ocean, sea" | "water, waterfall" | |
Shape | Elder Futhark | Futhorc | Younger Futhark |
![]() | |||
Unicode | ᛚ U+16DA | ||
Transliteration | l | ||
Transcription | l | ||
IPA | [l] | ||
Position in rune-row | 21 | 15 |
*Laguz or *Laukaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the l-rune ᛚ, *laguz meaning "water" or "lake" and *laukaz meaning "leek". In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, it is called lagu "ocean". In the Younger Futhark, the rune is called lögr "waterfall" in Icelandic and logr "water" in Norse.
The corresponding Gothic letter is 𐌻 l, named lagus. The rune is identical in shape to the letter l in the Raetic alphabet.
The "leek" hypothesis is based not on the rune poems, but rather on early inscriptions where the rune has been hypothesized to abbreviate *laukaz, a symbol of fertility, see the Bülach fibula.
Rune Poem:[1] | English Translation: |
ᛚ Lögr er, fællr ór fjalle foss; |
A waterfall is a River which falls from a mountain-side; |
ᛚ Lögr er vellanda vatn |
Water is eddying stream |
ᛚ Lagu byþ leodum langsum geþuht, |
The ocean seems interminable to men, |
See also
References
- ^ Original poems and translation from the Rune Poem Page Archived 1999-05-01 at the Wayback Machine.