Laguz

*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.

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

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:
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.
Anglo-Saxon 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.

See also

• Elder Futhark
• Rune poem

References

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