Elhaz

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Elhaz

Elhaz or Algiz ( ᛉ ) is the fifteenth rune of the older Futhark and the eleventh rune of the Old Norse runic alphabet with the sound value z. The reconstructed Germanic name means "elk". The rune appears in the rune poems as Old Norse yr , Old English eolhx or Gothic ezec . To distinguish it from the Madhr rune, it is often used inverted in the younger Futhark ( ᛦ ).

Surname

The actual name of the rune is unclear because the three source languages ​​designate it differently. In the Old Norse rune poem, the rune is referred to as yr (ȳr), which means "yew". This name is likely to have originally referred to the synonymous Ihwa rune, which is missing in the Nordic rune poem. There is currently no convincing etymology for the late Gothic tradition of ezec . The old English variant eolhx , which can be traced back to ags.eolh "elch", was therefore chosen as the namesake .

Sound value

The primitive Germanic sound * z came about through the effect of Verner's law from earlier * s only in the internal or final form. Accordingly, the Elhaz rune does not appear at the beginning of the word. It is transcribed with the Latin letter z .

In Old Norse , this consonant developed into a / r / sound, which is why the transcription here is usually carried out using the Latin letter ʀ (alternatively a capital letter R ).

Character encoding

Unicode codepoint U + 16C9 U + 16E6 U + 16E7 U + 16E8
Unicode name RUNIC LETTER ALGIZ EOLHX RUNIC LETTER LONG-BRANCH-YR RUNIC LETTER SHORT-TWIG-YR RUNIC LETTER ICELANDIC-YR
HTML & # 5833; & # 5862; & # 5863; & # 5864;
character ᛉ ᛦ ᛧ ᛨ

Use in modern times

Esoteric

Cotton tote bag with Futhark and Algiz

In the " Armanen-Futhark ", an invention of the folkish author and esoteric Guido von List from 1902, the rune is referred to as the "life rune" and its inverted counterpart ( ᛦ ) - a fall rune - as the "death rune". These names and their meaning are purely fictional, while the form is loosely based on the Elhaz rune.

In modern esotericism, the Algiz rune means defense and protection and can be found on clothing, jewelry and a wide variety of everyday objects. Depending on the personal point of view of the wearer, it is then viewed as a magical protective rune or simply as a decorative symbol.

time of the nationalsocialism

Under the Nazi regime , the rune of life was used as a life-born symbol as well as a distinction from Christian symbolism instead of the usual genealogical symbols for the date of birth (*) and in an inverted form for the date of death (†). The symbol was placed on the graves of SS members , among other things, and was used continuously until the end. When officers Wolfgang Lüth and Hans-Georg von Friedeburg died in May 1945 in the special area of ​​Mürwik , the residence of the last Reich government , they were buried side by side in the Adelby cemetery. They received an identical tombstone, in the shape of the paw cross , as used by the Wehrmacht , as well as an inscription with the said rune.

Neo-Nazism and right-wing extremism

Logo of the right-wing Swedish Svenskarnas parti

The rune of life is used by some neo-Nazi and right-wing organizations.

It was a symbol of the National Democratic Party (NDP), which existed in Austria from 1967 to 1988 . This was founded by the Austrian right-wing extremist Norbert Burger and is also shown on his former home in Kirchberg am Wechsel (Lower Austria).

Flag of the All-Germanic Pagan Front

The rune was one of the symbols of the All-Germanic Pagan Front and the German Pagan Front . The Havelland civic alliance mentioned in the 2016 Brandenburg Constitutional Protection report has two Elhaz runes in its organizational symbol.

Electrical engineering

In electrical engineering, the symbol is used as a circuit symbol for antennas in radio engineering .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Klaus Düwel : Runenkunde (= Metzler Collection. Vol. 72). 3rd, completely revised edition. Metzler, Stuttgart et al. 2001, ISBN 3-476-13072-X .
  2. ^ Thesaurus of Indo-European Text and Language Materials
  3. ↑ Guido von List : The Secret of the Runes (= Guido List Library. Series 1: Research Results . Vol. 1, ZDB -ID 1225024-7 ). Zillmann, Groß-Lichterfelde 1907 (Edition Secret Knowledge, Graz 2007, ISBN 978-3-902640-50-5 ).
  4. ^ Betty J. Viktoria: Heroism under National Socialism and the memorial in Hanover in 1943 . Munich 2012, chapter: The symbol - the death rune
  5. ^ Constitutional Protection Report Brandenburg 2016, page 214
  6. ^ Constitutional Protection Report Brandenburg 2016, page 26
  7. ↑ Internet presence of the Havelland Citizens' Alliance , accessed on March 1, 2018

Web links

Commons : Algiz  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Rune of life  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations