In the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, it is called lagu "ocean". In the Younger Futhark, the rune is called logr "waterfall" in Icelandic and logr "water" in Norse.

The corresponding Gothic letter is named lagus. The rune is identical in shape to the letter l in the Raetic alphabet.

The "leek" hypothesis is based not on the rune poems, but rather on early inscriptions where the rune has been hypothesized to abbreviate *laukaz, a symbol of fertility, see the Bülach fibula.