Rune 9 of 24 · Hagal's aett
Hagalaz
“hail” · sound: h
Looks the same either way up: never reversed.
Historical evidence
Hail in all three poems (hægl, hagall). The Old English poem calls it the whitest of grain that melts into water; the Icelandic poem calls it cold grain.
The name Hagalaz is a modern reconstruction of the Proto-Germanic name; the Elder Futhark’s own names are not recorded.
In the rune poems
Original
Hægl byþ hwitust corna; hwyrft hit of heofones lyfte,
wealcaþ hit windes scura; weorþeþ hit to wætere syððan.English
Hail is the whitest of grains; it whirls from the heights of heaven, gusts of wind toss it about; afterwards it turns to water.
Original
Hagall er kaldastr korna;
Kristr skóp hæimenn forna.English
Hail is the coldest of grains; Christ shaped the world of old.
The Norwegian rhyme pairs each rune with a second line that rhymes with the first and often has no obvious connection to it.
Original
Hagall er kaldakorn
ok krapadrífa
ok snáka sótt
grando hildingr.English
Hail is cold grain and a shower of sleet and the sickness of snakes. Hail [Latin grando]. Battle-leader.
Each Icelandic stanza ends with two words: a Latin gloss of the rune’s name and a poetic word for a king or chieftain that alliterates with the rune. Both are translated as they stand.
Original texts as printed in Bruce Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples, Cambridge University Press, 1915. Public domain. The English translations are Scryway’s own, made line by line from these texts; square brackets mark uncertain or added words. No published translation is reproduced.
Modern interpretation
From 20th-century and later divinatory practice, written for Scryway. Not a historical meaning.
Keywords: disruption, sudden change, forces outside your control
Upright
A sudden storm you did not cause: disruption that clears the way for something new, as hail melts to water.