Laguz


*Laguz or *Laukaz is the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the l-rune, *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.
The corresponding Gothic letter is ? l, named lagus. 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:English Translation:

Old Norwegian

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

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

Lagu byþ leodum langsum geþuht,

gif hi sculun neþan on nacan tealtum

and hi sæyþa sƿyþe bregaþ

and se brimhengest bridles ne gym.

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.