{{Short description|Female given name}} '''Alruna''' (Old Norse '''Ǫlrún''', Old High German '''Ailrun''', Modern German '''Alruna''', '''Alraune''') is a Germanic female personal name, from Proto Germanic ''*aliruna'' (or possibly ''*agilruna''), which is formed from ''runa'' "secret, rune" and a debated prefix that may be ''ali-'', ''agil-'', or ''alu-''.
In German, ''Alruna'' was also used as a short form of ''Adelruna'', a different name with a first element ''*athal-'' "noble".
In Germanic mythology, Ailrun is the wife of Agilaz, the legendary archer. In the poem ''Völundarkviða'', '''Ölrun''' (possibly Old Norse "ale rune"<ref name=SIMEK251>Simek (2007:251).</ref>) is identified as a valkyrie, and as a daughter of Kiár of Valland.
Alruna of Cham was an 11th-century Bavarian recluse, the Roman Catholic patroness of pregnancy. It is also the name for the ''Mandragora'' or mandrake, a plant belonging to the nightshade family, in a number of Germanic languages: '''alruna''' in Swedish, '''alrune''' in Danish and Norwegian, and '''Alraune''' in German.
==See also== * Albruna
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. ''Dictionary of Northern Mythology''. D.S. Brewer. {{ISBN|0-85991-513-1}}
{{Valkyries}}
Category:Germanic mythology Category:Valkyries Category:Germanic feminine given names Category:Feminine given names {{europe-myth-stub}} {{norse-myth-stub}}