Dagaz


The d rune is called dæg "day" in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem. The corresponding letter of the Gothic alphabet ? d is called dags. This rune is also part of the Elder Futhark, with a reconstructed Proto-Germanic name *dagaz.
Its "butterfly" shape is possibly derived from Lepontic san. The rune may have been an original innovation, or it may have been adapted from the Rhaetic's alphabet's D.

Rune poems

The name is only recorded in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, since the rune was lost in the Younger Futhark:
Rune Poem:English Translation:

Old English

Dæg bẏþ drihtnes sond, deore mannum,

mære metodes leoht, mẏrgþ and tohiht

eadgum and earmum, eallum brice.

Day, the glorious light of the Creator, is sent by the Lord;

it is beloved of men, a source of hope and happiness to rich and poor,

and of service to all.

Inscriptions

On runic inscription Ög 43 in Ingelstad, one Dagaz rune is translated using the Old Norse word for "day" as the personal name Dagr.