ᛞ *dagaz

Line of descent

History

The d rune is two staves joined by two crossing diagonals, a shape like an hourglass on its side. It has no obvious model in the Latin alphabet. A Lepontic letter and an independent Germanic design have both been proposed.

The name *dagaz "day" rests on the Old English poem, where dæg is "the Lord's messenger, dear to men", and on the Gothic letter name daaz. The reconstruction is not in doubt, but it has only these two witnesses.

The rune's place at the end of the row varies. The Kylver stone ends …ŋ d o, putting d 23rd and othala last. The Vadstena, Mariedamm and Grumpan bracteates end …ŋ o d. Handbooks print it either way. English rune-rows and the Old English poem have ēþel before dæg, so in this site's futhorc table dæg is 24th. The Thames seax puts d before œ.

Examples are common. The Gallehus horn has tawido "made". The Tune stone has woduride and dohtriz "daughters". The Einang stone has [go]dagastiz and faihido.

d was dropped from the Younger Futhark, where it was written with the t rune. It came back in the medieval period as a dotted t, ᛑ (see medieval runes).

In the rune poems

Original text from the public-domain editions named on each poem's page; translations are our own.

Where it is found

• Gallehus horn (DR 12): tawido
• Tune stone (N KJ72): þrijoz dohtriz
• Kylver stone (G 88), position 23; Vadstena (Ög 178), position 24

On inscriptions described on this site

Sources

• Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata), signa DR 12, N KJ72, N KJ63, G 88, Ög 178
• Wikipedia, 'Elder Futhark', 'Dagaz' and 'Seax of Beagnoth' (checked 2026-10-26)