ELDER FUTHARK · HAGAL'S AETT · RUNE 15 OF 24
Algiz ᛉ
“Elk-sedge” · the sound z
IN A READING
Protection, higher guidance.
REVERSED
Vulnerability, hidden danger, ignored warnings.
IN MAGIC
Shielding and protection; connection with the divine.
In the rune poems
Three medieval poems give a short verse to each rune's name, the oldest record of what the names meant. What they stress for Algiz: the sharp sedge wounds any who grasp it.
THE OLD ENGLISH RUNE POEM · ᛉ EOLH
Eolh-secg eard hæfþoftust on fennewexeð on wature,wundaþ grimme,blode breneðbeorna gehwylcneðe him ænigneonfeng gedeþ.
Known only from George Hickes's printing of 1705; the manuscript burned in the Cotton library fire of 1731.
THE OLD ICELANDIC RUNE POEM · ᛦ ÝR
Ýr er bendr bogiok brotgjarnt járnok fífu fárbauti.
For the sixteen runes of the Younger Futhark, in manuscripts from about 1500.
The verses are given in their own languages, Old English from Bruce Dickins's edition (1915) as transcribed on Wikisource, Old Icelandic as normalised in Wikipedia's article on the rune poems. Square brackets mark words the editors restored.
In the later rows
Anglo-Saxon futhorc
ᛉEolh
Younger Futhark
ᛦÝr
Hagal's aett
The futhark falls into three rows of eight, the aettir. Algiz is number 7 of Hagal's aett:
Learn more in the lessons
- The Elder Futhark Runes · 15 min
- Runes in Magic · 15 min
- The Younger Futhark and the Runestones · 18 min