Hagalaz Rune Meaning — Hail, the Icy Ninth Rune ᚺ Explained

Hagalaz (ᚺ) is the ninth rune of the Elder Futhark and it means "hail" — the icy pellets that fall from a storm cloud. It carries the sound h and appears in all three historical futharks: as Hagalaz in the Elder Futhark, Hagall in the Viking-Age Younger Futhark, and Hægl in the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc.

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What does Hagalaz mean?

The name goes back to a Proto-Germanic word for hail, and it is one of the few runes whose sense stayed essentially fixed across all three traditions — Elder Hagalaz, Younger Hagall and Old English Hægl all simply mean "hail." Hagalaz also opens the second ætt, the second family of eight runes in the twenty-four-rune row, marking a natural break point in the Elder Futhark.

What makes Hagalaz interesting is less a shift in meaning than the imagery the rune poems build around it: hail as something violent and destructive that nonetheless passes and turns back to water. That double nature — harsh but temporary — runs through all three poems below.

Hagalaz in the three rune poems

Hagall er kaldastr korna; Kristr skóp hæimenn forna.

"Hail is the coldest of grains; Christ shaped the world of old." — Norwegian Rune Poem, c. 13th century

Hagall er kaldakorn ok krapadrífa ok snáka sótt.

"Hail is cold grain, a rush of sleet, and the sickness of serpents." — Icelandic Rune Poem, c. 15th century

Hægl byþ hwitust corna; hwyrft hit of heofones lyfte, wealcaþ hit windes scura; weorþeþ hit to wætere syððan.

"Hail is the whitest of grains; it whirls down from heaven's height, the wind rolls it about, and then it melts to water." — Old English Rune Poem, c. 8th–9th century

All three poems reach for the same image — hail as a kind of grain, the coldest or whitest of its kind — and the Old English poem completes the picture by noting that it "melts to water" once its violence has passed. The Norwegian poem's line "Christ shaped the world of old" is not evidence of an old pagan belief; it reflects the Christian scribes who wrote the poem down in 13th-century Norway, long after Scandinavia's conversion, and inserted their own faith into an older verse form.

How to write Hagalaz

Hagalaz stands for the sound h. Any name or word containing an H will use ᚺ when transliterated — try it in our free rune translator, which writes your name in the Elder, Younger or Anglo-Saxon rows and lets you download it as a poster. The full texts of all three rune poems, with our translations, are on the same page.

Hagalaz and disruption in Norse tradition

Because hail arrives without warning and can flatten a field of grain in minutes, Hagalaz is often read as a rune of sudden, uncontrollable disruption — a force from outside a person's control that still, like the poems say, eventually passes. You can read every rune in order in our Elder Futhark rune meanings guide, and runic inscriptions appear across our Viking jewelry collection.

Hagalaz FAQ

What does the Hagalaz rune mean?

Hagalaz (ᚺ) is the ninth rune of the Elder Futhark and means "hail." Unlike many runes, its meaning did not shift between traditions — the Younger Futhark's Hagall and the Old English Futhorc's Hægl both keep the same sense of hail.

What sound does Hagalaz represent?

The consonant H. Hagalaz opens the second ætt, the second family of eight runes in the twenty-four-rune Elder Futhark row.

Why does the Norwegian rune poem for Hagalaz mention Christ?

The surviving Norwegian Rune Poem was written down by Christian scribes around the 13th century, well after Scandinavia's conversion. Its line "Christ shaped the world of old" reflects that later Christian context, not the rune's original pre-Christian meaning of hail and harsh weather.