Laguz
| 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 name of the corresponding Gothic letter (𐌻, l) is attested as laaz in the Codex Vindobonensis 795; a normalized (Ulfilan) Gothic form *lagus is thought to underlie this unconventional spelling.
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 bẏþ 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.