*Laguz

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Name	Proto-Germanic	Old English	Old Norse
	**Laguz/*Laukaz*	*Lagu*	*Lögr*
	"lake"/"leek"	"ocean, sea"	"water, waterfall"
Shape	Elder Futhark	Futhorc	Younger Futhark
Shape
Unicode	ᛚ U+16DA
Transliteration	l
Transcription	l
IPA	[l]
Position in rune-row	21		15

This article contains runic characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of runes.

*Laguz ('water', 'lake'), or *Laukaz ('leek'), is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the l-rune ᛚ. 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.

Rune poem

Rune Poem:^[1]	English Translation:
Old Norwegian ᛚ Lögr er, fællr ór fjalle foss; en gull ero nosser.	A waterfall is a River which falls from a mountain-side; but ornaments are of gold.
Old Icelandic ᛚ Lögr er vellanda vatn ok viðr ketill ok glömmungr grund. lacus lofðungr.	Water is eddying stream and broad geysir and land of the fish.
Old English ᛚ Lagu bẏþ leodum langsum geþuht, gif hi sculun neþan on nacan tealtum and hi sæẏþa sƿẏþe bregaþ and se brimhengest bridles ne gẏm[eð].	The ocean seems interminable to men, if they venture on the rolling bark and the waves of the sea terrify them and the stallion of the deep heed not its bridle.

Leek hypothesis

The hypothesis that the Proto-Germanic name for the rune is *laukaz ('leek') is based not on the rune poems, but rather on early inscriptions, such as the Bülach fibula, where the rune has been hypothesised to be an abbreviation of *laukaz. The choice of word may be due to the plant being seen as a symbol of fertility and healing. Also supporting this idea are 10th century manuscripts that use the Old Norse descendent laukr as a name for the rune, alongside lín ('flax', 'linen').^[2]^[3]

References

^ Original poems and translation from the Rune Poem Page Archived 1999-05-01 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Looijenga, Tineke (1 January 2003). Texts and Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-12396-0.
^ Markey, Tom (2013). "'Garlic and Sapphires in the Mud': 'Leeks' in their Early Folk Contexts" (PDF). Leeds Studies in English: 10–42.

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[1] Original poems and translation from the Rune Poem Page Archived 1999-05-01 at the Wayback Machine.

[2] Looijenga, Tineke (1 January 2003). Texts and Contexts of the Oldest Runic Inscriptions. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-12396-0.

[3] Markey, Tom (2013). "'Garlic and Sapphires in the Mud': 'Leeks' in their Early Folk Contexts" (PDF). Leeds Studies in English: 10–42.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Rune poem

Leek hypothesis

See also

References