Draft content, not yet reviewed.
Attested
Found in inscriptions or medieval manuscripts.
This is the twenty-first rune of the Elder Futhark and writes the sound /l/.
All three rune poems name this rune for water. The Old English poem calls it lagu, the sea, which seems endless to sailors and terrifies them when their ship will not answer the helm. The Norwegian poem calls it lǫgr, a waterfall, and the Icelandic poem lǫgr, a churning stream and the home of fish.
Reconstructed
Scholarly reconstruction from linguistic evidence.
The Proto-Germanic name is tentatively reconstructed as *laguz, "water" or "liquid." Scholars mark this reconstruction as uncertain.
In practice today
How people use this rune now, in divination, magic, and devotion. Valid in its own right, and labeled modern so it isn’t mistaken for history.
In Ralph Blum's modern divination system, this rune (spelled Laguz) is read as flow.
Practice today: wyrd, galdr, and other old words people use when working with the runes now.