ALU by Edred Thorsson

Author:Edred Thorsson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781609256326
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser

This rune is not found in the Younger Furk, but the name survives in Old Norse onomastics (study of names). There are many personal names constructed with this element, e.g., Inga, Ingiborg, Ingimarr, as well as the divine formula Ingvi-Freyr. The Swedes are said to be descended from this god/hero, as can be seen the Ynglingasaga (i.e., saga of the descendants of Ing).

Although this rune-name is clearly a direct reference to an extremely ancient name of a god, the Old English word ing meaning “a meadow” must have been evocative of the idea that Ing was a god of fertility. The word is so ancient that a convincing etymology has eluded scholars. Ing was already known by this name in the first century, as reflected by Tacitus's report about the Ing-vaeones—one of the three divisions of the ancient Germanic tribes and the one found next to the sea. (And in the rune-row we also find Ing next to, and paired with, the sea :l:!

Fundamentally, ingwaz is the embodied seed principle of organic growth, fertility, and well-being. From it grows the possibilities of eternal renewal among the gods and among men.

The Old English Rune-Poem is our only direct literary piece of evidence about the lore surrounding this rune. Other clues are contained in the study of names, linguistics, and contemplation of the unique significance of this rune's shape. The older ingwaz appears in many variations, e.g., . It is usually executed in a manner indicative of an intention to make the stave smaller than others and higher off of any implied lower edge of a line along which the runestaves are being inscribed. Its original shape was probably a small circle. This has led us to speculate that it is emblematic of a “heavenly seed” of the principle of a cyclical process itself.

In the OERP, Ing is said to originate among the “East-Danes,” by which the Swedes might be indicated—i.e., those descendants of Yngvi-Freyr. Ing is also called a hæle(): “warrior,” not a god per se, although Ing is certainly originally a godform. (In the Middle Ages it was common to “demote” pagan gods to the level of mere mortals.) The wagon (wn, more usual form wæn) is most probably a reference to the constellation we know as the Big Dipper, called a “wagon” by the Germanic peoples.

The málrúnakenningar are of no help here, since the use of a separate letter for the sound [ng] essentially disappeared with the demise of the Older Fuark and the Old English Fuorc.

Ingwaz is an archaic mythological name for the god of the earth. This is not to say that he is the embodiment of the Earth herself—that distinction belongs to JörÐ (Earth)—called both an Áss and a giantess in the old texts. Rather Ing is a god of the land—soil—in juxtaposition to the water. (Hence perhaps the pairing of : .) Culturally this makes Ing the god of farming and fertility of fields and crops. It seems that Ing is a god who dies

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