Editing Algiz (section)

== {{runic|ᛉ}} – Anglo-Saxon futhorc ==
{{main|Anglo-Saxon runes}}
The name of the Anglo-Saxon rune {{runic|ᛉ}} is variously recorded as ''eolx, ilcs, ilix, elux, eolhx''. Manuscript tradition gives its sound value as Latin ''x'', i.e. /ks/, or alternatively as ''il'', or yet again as "''l'' and ''x''". The relevant stanza of the [[Anglo-Saxon rune poem]] reads:<ref>Dickins, Bruce, ''[https://archive.org/details/runicandheroicpo00dickuoft Runic and heroic poems of the old Teutonic peoples]'' (1915), p. 16.</ref>
:{{runic|ᛉ}} {{lang|ang|sec}}[g e]{{lang|ang|ard hæfþ oftust on fenne}}
:{{lang|ang|ƿexeð on ƿature, ƿundaþ grimme}}
:{{lang|ang|blode breneð beorna gehƿẏlcne}}
:{{lang|ang|ðe him ænigne onfeng gedeþ.}}
Reading the rune as ''eolhx'' (as discussed [[#Name|above]]), and with the emendation of ''seccard'' to ''secg eard'' due to Grimm (1821), the stanza becomes about a species of sedge (''[[Cladium mariscus]]'') called "elk-sedge". In the translation of Page (1999):<ref name="PAGE71">Page (1999:71).</ref>
:The Elk-sedge usually lives in the fen,<!--Dickins: (the ?-sedge) is mostly found in a marsh-->
:growing in the water. It wounds severely,<!--it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound-->
:staining with blood any man<!--covering in blood every warrior who touches it-->
:who makes a grab at it.

The 9th-century ''abecedarium anguliscum'' in [[Codex Sangallensis 878]] shows ''eolh'' as a peculiar shape, as it were a [[bindrune]] of the older {{runic|ᛉ}} with the Younger Futhark {{runic|ᛦ}}, resulting in an "asterisk" shape similar to ''ior'' {{Runic|ᛡ}}.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

The only known instance where the rune does take the sound value of Latin ''x'' in epigraphy is the spelling of ''rex'' "king" on the interlace [[coin die]]s of king [[Beonna]] (mid 8th century). Furthermore, it appears in the inscription on [[St Cuthbert's coffin]] (late 7th century) in the abbreviation of the name [[Christ]], where Greek [[Nomina sacra|ΧΡΣ]] is taken as Latin ''xps'' and rendered as runic ᛉᛈᛋ.{{cn|date=April 2024}}