Ingwaz (ᛜ) is the twenty-second rune of the Elder Futhark and stands for the sound ng, as in "sing." It is named for Ing, a hero or god who appears in one short Old English verse and then sails away. In modern rune reading Ingwaz is taken to mean completion, rest and stored potential, often pictured as a seed, and it is read as a yes.
What does the Ingwaz rune mean?
Ingwaz is one of two runes named for a divine figure; the other is Tiwaz. It is also the only rune that stands for a pair of consonants, ng.
The meanings below are modern. They were developed in 20th-century rune reading:
- Completion. One stage properly finished.
- Potential. Energy gathered and held, like a seed before spring.
- Rest. The pause between an ending and the next beginning.
The seed is a modern image. It suits the idea of a fertility god, but no old source describes the rune that way.
The Ingwaz sign and its sound
In the Elder Futhark, Ingwaz is a small diamond: a square standing on one corner, with no upright stave. It is shorter than most runes. Later English rune rows draw it larger, with the lines extended.
The sound is ng. English has no single letter for it, which is part of what makes this rune feel unfamiliar. The reconstructed name is Ingwaz, also spelled Inguz; the Old English name is Ing.
The name Ingwaz and what the rune poem says
In her table of rune names, the runologist Tineke Looijenga gives the reconstructed form as ingwaz and glosses Old English ing as "Ing, fertility god."
Only the Old English rune poem has a verse, since the later Scandinavian alphabet had no ng rune. In Bruce Dickins's 1915 translation: "Ing was first seen by men among the East-Danes, till, followed by his chariot, he departed eastwards over the waves. So the Heardingas named the hero."
That is all. Every other verse in the poem describes a thing: a tree, the weather, a horse. This one tells a fragment of a story and assumes the audience knows the rest. We do not. Who the Heardingas were, why Ing left and where his wagon took him are open questions. The wagon is the one solid detail: a figure who travels with a chariot or cart behind him, appearing among a people and then moving on across the water.
Scholars often connect Ing with Freyr, the Norse god whose fuller name in some sources is Yngvi-Freyr. Of Freyr the 13th-century Prose Edda says, in Arthur Brodeur's 1916 translation, "he rules over the rain and the shining of the sun, and therewithal the fruit of the earth." If Ing and Freyr are the same figure, the modern link between this rune and growth has a root. The rune poem itself, though, calls Ing a hero and says nothing of harvests.
Ingwaz in a modern rune reading
Everything here is modern practice; the verse above is the whole of the old evidence.
As a rune of the day, Ingwaz is taken as advice to finish one thing properly before starting the next.
In a three-rune cast:
- The situation. A phase is complete, or nearly. What was needed has been gathered.
- The challenge. Rushing on without a pause, or lingering too long. The task is to rest on purpose and then begin.
- The likely outcome. A fresh start with full reserves. It is a direction, not a verdict.
In a yes-or-no question Ingwaz is read as a yes.
Draw a rune or cast three below.
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Why Ingwaz has no reversed form
A diamond is the same upside down, so Ingwaz is one of the runes that cannot be reversed even in systems that use reversals. Our rune reading reads all 24 upright.
Ingwaz in its ætt and neighboring runes
Ingwaz is the sixth rune of the third ætt, the group that begins with Tiwaz. The first ætt is often named after Freyr, so if Ing is Freyr, his rune sits far from the group that bears his name.
It comes after Laguz, water, and before Dagaz, day: Ing leaves over the waves, and then the light comes up. The whole row is in the guide to the Elder Futhark runes.