Dæg
The twenty-fourth futhorc rune, transliterated d. Its name means "day". English kept a dedicated d-rune, which the Younger Futhark did not.
At a glance
- Rune
- ᛞU+16DE
- Unicode name
- RUNIC LETTER DAGAZ DAEG D
- Alphabet
- Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
- In use
- c. AD 400 – 1100 (Early medieval England and Frisia)
- Position
- 24, ætt 3
- Transliteration
- d
- Sound value
- /d/
- Name
- dæg: dayAttested
Names
How the rune is called in each tradition, and how securely each name is recorded.
| Form | Language | Meaning | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| dæg | Old English | day | Attested |
An asterisk marks a reconstructed form: a word linguists have worked backwards to, not one that appears in any surviving source.
Etymology
Continues *dagaz. Old English dæg is simply "day", and the stanza calls it the Lord’s sending: the glorious light of the Ruler, a joy to prosperous and poor alike, of use to everyone.
Sound value
A /d/. English kept a dedicated d-rune, which is why futhorc spelling can distinguish /t/ from /d/ where Younger Futhark spelling cannot.
Historical use
Rune-poem evidence
The medieval verse that records this rune's name. Original text plus our own translation.
Dæg byþ drihtnes sond, deore mannum, mære metodes leoht, myrgþ and tohiht eadgum and earmum, eallum brice.Day is the Lord's sending, dear to people, the glorious light of the Ruler, a joy and a hope to the prosperous and the poor, of use to everyone.(our translation)
Attested in
Objects and monuments where this rune can actually be seen.
- Thames scramasaxRiver Thames, London · 10th century
Present in the row.
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 Anglo-Saxon Futhorc separately. Inventing a reading for Dæg 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.