In the Elder Futhark, Algiz represents the Germanic phoneme *z, which does not occur word-initially.
The fibula, dated to between the 3rd and 6th centuries, bears an Elder Futhark runic inscription, the only one found in Switzerland to date.
The rune derives from the unattested but reconstructed Proto-Germanic *fehu in the Elder Futhark alphabet, with the original meaning of "money, cattle, wealth".
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Such correspondence between all rune poems and the Gothic letter name, as well, is uncommon, and gives the reconstructed name of the Old Futhark a high degree of certainty.
If the inscription on the Meldorf fibula is runic, then it has far-reaching implications regarding the question as to the origin and development of the Elder Futhark.
It is disputed as to whether a distinct system of Gothic runes ever existed, but it is clear that most of the names (but not most of the shapes) of the letters of the Gothic alphabet correspond to those of the Elder Futhark.
Ultima V used a modified form of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet for some game text, adding some letters to make a complete one-to-one correspondence with the English alphabet (plus a few runes to represent some common two-letter combinations).
Pliny the Elder | Pieter Bruegel the Elder | Lucas Cranach the Elder | Cato the Elder | Daniel K. Elder | Elder Futhark | elder | Mark Elder | John Pinch the elder | Faustina the Elder | Elder Conservatorium | Edward the Elder | The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | Nicodemus Tessin the Elder | John Rennie the Elder | Jan Brueghel the Elder | Helmuth von Moltke the Elder | Hanno the Elder | Thomas Linley the elder | Robert Livingston the Elder | Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder | Melania the Elder | Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder | John Elder Robison | Jacques Villeneuve (elder) | Hans Holbein the Elder | Giles Fletcher, the Elder | Erik Benzelius the Elder | Elder Park |
Very few Elder Futhark inscriptions in the Gothic language have been found in the territory historically settled by the Goths (Wielbark culture, Chernyakhov culture).