Wyrdseidr

ᛚ lǫgr

Younger Futhark · position 15 · water, sea, liquid

Name
lǫgr
Meaning
water, sea, liquid
Transliteration
l
Sounds
l
Unicode
U+16DA runic letter laukaz lagu logr l

Line of descent

ᛚ*laguz (or *laukaz)Elder Futhark→ ᛚlǫgrYounger Futhark

History

l keeps the Elder Futhark shape of laguz: a stave with one branch sloping down to the right from the top. It is the same in long-branch and short-twig runes and writes the sound l. Like the other consonants, it was usually not written double, so ala on the larger Jelling stone is alla "all" (DR 42).

The Norse name lǫgr means water or liquid, and in poetry the sea. It matches Old English lagu. Both point to a Proto-Germanic *laguz, which is the usual reconstruction. Some scholars have preferred *laukaz "leek", because laukaz is a common word on Migration-period bracteates, so the Elder Futhark name is less certain than the Norse one. The Norwegian poem describes water as what "falls from the mountain as a waterfall". It is the only couplet in that poem without end-rhyme, and its word order is tangled enough that Dickins had to rearrange it to construe it. The Icelandic poem has "welling liquid", "a wide cauldron" and "the land of fish", glossed with Latin lacus. The oldest Icelandic manuscript puts this stanza out of futhark order.

In later medieval rune-rows l sometimes moves ahead of m under the influence of the Latin alphabetical order. A dotted variant, ᛛ, is known from a few inscriptions, and its function is unclear.

In the rune poems

The Old Norwegian Rune Poem, stanza 15
Lǫgr er, fællr ór fjalle
foss; en gull ero nosser.
Water is what falls from the mountain
as a waterfall; but treasures are of gold.
The word order is poetic: Dickins construes foss er lǫgr, fællr ór fjalle, 'a waterfall is water that falls from a mountain'. This is the only couplet without end-rhyme.
The Old Icelandic Rune Poem, stanza 15 · Latin gloss lacus · chieftain word lofðungr
Lögr er vellanda vatn
ok víðr ketill
ok glömmungr grund.
Water is welling liquid
and a wide cauldron
and the land of fish.
Glǫmmungr is the name of a fish in the þulur; 'the fish's ground' is the sea. Only AM 687 d has vellanda vatn; the other texts have vellandi vimr.

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

Where it is found

  • Jelling stone 2 (DR 42): ala 'all'
  • Stone of Tófi the steward (DR 40): lika lifa 'live long'
  • Gørlev stone (DR 239), position 15 of the row

On inscriptions described on this site

Small Jelling stone (Gorm's stone)Large Jelling stone (Harald's stone)Ramsund carving (Sigurd carving)

Sources

  • Samnordisk runtextdatabas (Rundata), signa DR 42, DR 40, DR 239
  • Dickins (1915), notes to the Norwegian poem, stanza 15, and Icelandic poem, stanza 15
  • Wikipedia: Medieval runes (checked 2026-10-26)
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