Dagaz
Joy to Rich and Poor
The one Old English gloss, and the least qualified: light for rich and poor, the gift credited to the Lord.
The Younger Futhark had no d-rune, writing that sound with the t-rune, so this letter too has a single medieval gloss. The Old English poem calls day the Lord's sending, dear to men, the Creator's glorious light, a joy to rich and poor and of use to all. The frame is worth noticing: the poem was copied by Christian scribes and reads accordingly, and it survives only because George Hickes printed it in 1705 from a manuscript that burnt in the Cotton library fire of 1731. The reconstructed *dagaz is supported by Old English dæg and by the Gothic letter name daaz. The familiar reading of breakthrough dates to Ralph Blum's paperback of 1982.
Light
The least qualified gloss in the poem. Day is given as light, hope and joy distributed to rich and poor alike, and described as of service to all without any condition attached.
Shadow
A day is also the shortest unit a life is counted in, given and withdrawn on someone else's schedule; the poem credits the gift to the Lord rather than to the light itself.
