Lǫgr
The fifteenth Younger Futhark rune, transliterated l. Its name means "water", and its shape is essentially unchanged from the Elder Futhark.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛚU+16DA
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER LAUKAZ LAGU LOGR L
- Alphabet
- Younger Futhark
- In use
- c. AD 800 – 1100 (The Viking Age)
- Position
- 15, ætt 3
- Transliteration
- l
- Sound value
- /l/
- Name
- lǫgr: water, liquid, seaAttested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| lǫgr | Old Norse | water, liquid, sea | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Continues Elder Futhark *laguz. Both Norse poems give water: the Norwegian poem describes a waterfall coming off a mountain, the Icelandic poem calls it a wide kettle and the field of the fish.
Sound value
A plain /l/, unchanged in shape from the Elder Futhark and carried into the medieval alphabet undotted, unlike most of its neighbours.
Historical use
Common. The rune is one of the few whose shape passes essentially unchanged from the earliest inscriptions through to the medieval period, which makes it useless for dating but easy to read.
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Lǫgr er, fællr ór fjalle foss; en gull ero nosser.Water is what falls from a mountain as a waterfall; but ornaments are made of gold.(our translation)
Lögr er vellanda vatn ok viðr ketill ok glömmungr grund.Water is welling water and a wide kettle and the field of the fish.(our translation)
Manuscript tags: lacus ("lake") and lofðungr ("prince").
Lagu byþ leodum langsum geþuht, gif hi sculun neþan on nacan tealtum and hi sæyþa swyþe bregaþ and se brimhengest bridles ne gymð.Water seems unending to people, if they must venture out in an unsteady boat, and the sea-waves terrify them badly, and the sea-steed pays no heed to its bridle.(our translation)
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
One of around thirty Swedish stones commemorating men lost on the Ingvar expedition to the east.
Signatures follow the Scandinavian Runic-text Database so you can look each inscription up directly. Each name links to the object's own entry.
Modern meaning
Why this entry has none.
None is given here. Modern rune divination is built almost entirely on the Elder Futhark, and no established modern tradition reads the Younger Futhark separately. Inventing a reading for Lǫgr to fill the space would be exactly the kind of fabrication this site exists to flag, so the field is left empty rather than filled. Its Elder Futhark ancestor is linked further down and does carry a modern reading, labelled as modern. How modern rune meanings were arrived at is a separate discussion.
The same rune in other alphabets
Runes descended from the same original character, so you can follow it through time.
The rest of ætt 3
Sources for this entry
Full references are on the sources page. If you think something here is wrong, our corrections policy explains how to say so.