Abstract AGLA is an enigmatic, powerful (‘magic’) word ubiquitous in medieval Scandinavian inscriptions, particularly in Norway and Northern Europe. What was the word’s origin, and what did it mean? It adds a dimension to its riddle that Jewish tradition has a similar-sounding word that played a similar role as a powerful word in amulets and a few discussions of esoteric knowledge. The article discusses the runic AGLA in medieval Scandinavian inscriptions and the Hebrew ʾaglāʾ in Jewish tradition. Its main research questions are: How do medieval Scandinavian runic inscriptions use the word AGLA? How do Jewish texts and amulets use the Hebrew ʾaglāʾ ? Do the runic AGLA and the Hebrew ʾaglāʾ represent the same word and attest to a case of interreligious borrowing? If so, did the word originate in a Jewish context, or did Jewish tradition borrow it? And, if the runic AGLA is borrowed from the Jewish ʾaglāʾ , how did it migrate to Scandinavia?
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