Notional arms – Argent a fylfot azure (a blue fylfot on a white shield) – exemplifying the design of the fylfot commonly shown in modern heraldry texts.

Fylfot or fylfot cross is a synonym for swastika, sometimes used in Britain. Image File history File links Image created by Ant Allan. ... Image File history File links Image created by Ant Allan. ... Look up Synonym in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A right-facing Swastika in a decorative Hindu form In the Western world, since World War II, the swastika is usually associated with the flag of Nazi Germany and the Nazi Party. ...

However – at least in modern heraldry texts, such as Friar and Woodcock & Robinson (see below) – the fylfot differs somewhat from the archetypal form of the swastika: always upright and typically with truncated limbs, as shown in the figure at right.

Etymology

The most commonly cited etymology for this is that it comes from the notion common among nineteenth-century antiquarians, but based on only a single 1500 manuscript, that it was used to fill empty space at the foot of stained-glass windows in medieval churches. This etymology is often cited in modern dictionaries (such as the Collins English Dictionary and Mirriam-Webster OnLine). Not to be confused with Entomology, the study of insects. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... An antiquarian or antiquary is one concerned with antiquities or things of the past. ... 1500 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Strictly speaking, stained glass is glass that has been painted with silver stain and then fired. ... A window is an opening in an otherwise solid and opaque surface through which light and, sometimes, air can pass. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... St. ...

However, Thomas Wilson (see below), writing in 1896, cites other etymologies: Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar). ...

1. "In Great Britain the common name given to the Swastika from Anglo-Saxon times ... was Fylfot, said to have been derived from the Anglo-Saxon fower fot, meaning four-footed, or many-footed." ^[1]
2. "The word [Fylfot] is Scandinavian and is compounded of Old Norse fiël, equivalent to the Anglo-Saxon fela, German viel, "many", and fotr, "foot", the many-footed figure." ^[2] The Germanic root fele is cognate with English full, which has the sense of "many". Both fele and full are in turn related to the Greek poly-, all of which stem from the proto-Indo-European root *ple-. A fylfot is thus a "poly-foot", to wit, a "many-footed" sigil.

These etymologies are speculative and open to further consideration. Notably, the word fylfot is completely unknown in Scandinavian languages. (Though words like firfot (Norwegian) and fyrfot (Swedish) does translate to fourfoot/fourfeet) Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ... The Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) is the hypothetical common ancestor of the Indo-European languages. ...

In heraldry

Arms of Leonard Chamberlayne: Argent a chevron between three fylfots gules – drawn from the blazon given in MS. Harleian, 1394

In modern heraldry texts the fylfot is typically shown with truncated limbs, rather like a cross potent that's had one arm of each T cut off. It's also known as a cross cramponned, ~nnée, or ~nny, as each arm resembles a crampon or angle-iron (compare Winkelmaßkreuz in German). Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A Greek cross (all arms of equal length) above a saltire, a cross rotated by 45 degrees A famous khachkar at Goshavank (Notice the cross). ...

Examples of fylfots in heraldry are extremely rare. Oswald Barron, in his exemplary article on "Heraldry" in the Encyclopædia Britannica (most 20th-century editions), doesn't even mention it!

Parker's Glossary of Heraldry (see below) gives the following example:

Argent, a chevron between three fylfots gules--Leonard CHAMBERLAYNE, Yorkshire [so drawn in MS. Harleian, 1394, pt. 129, fol. 9=fol. 349 of MS.]

(In lieu of an image from this MS., a modern rendering of this blazon is shown on the right.)

Even in the last few centuries the fylfot is conspicuous by its absence from grants of arms (understandably so since 1945; see: Swastika – Taboo). A right-facing Swastika in a decorative Hindu form In the Western world, since World War II, the swastika is usually associated with the flag of Nazi Germany and the Nazi Party. ...

Modern use of the term

From its use in heraldry - or from its use by antiquaries - fylfot has become an established word for this symbol, in at least British English.

However, it was only rarely used. Wilson, writing in 1896, says, "The use of Fylfot is confined to comparatively few persons in Great Britain and, possibly, Scandinavia. Outside of these countries it is scarcely known, used, or understood."

In more recent times, fylfot has gained greater currency within the areas of design history and collecting, where it is used to distinguish the swastika motif as used in designs and jewellery from that used in Nazi paraphernalia. Even though the swastika does not derive from Nazism, it has become associated with it, and fylfot functions as a more acceptable term for a "good" swastika.

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 12 Jun 1996 (pt 41) reports a discussion about the badge of No. 273 Fighter Squadron, Royal Air Force. In this, fylfot is used to describe the ancient symbol, and swastika used as if it refers only to the symbol used by the Nazis. The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

Odinic Rite (OR), a Germanic pagan organization, use both "swastika" and "fylfot" for what they claim as a "holy symbol of Odinism". The OR fylfot is depicted with curved outer limbs, more like a "sunwheel swastika" than a traditional (square) swastika or heraldic fylfot. [1] The Odinic Rite (OR) is a Germanic pagan reconstructivist society whose aims are to promote all aspects of Germanic paganism, termed Odinism after the chief god of Norse mythology, Odin. ... Germanic paganism refers to the religion and mythology of the Germanic nations preceding Christianization, including Norse, Anglo-Saxon mythology, information obtained from archaeological finds and remnants of pre-Christian beliefs in the folklore of medieval and modern Germanic peoples. ... The sun cross or suncross is a traditional religious and neopagan symbol. ...

See also

• Swastika
• Triskelion
• Western use of the Swastika in the early 20th century

A right-facing Swastika in a decorative Hindu form In the Western world, since World War II, the swastika is usually associated with the flag of Nazi Germany and the Nazi Party. ... The armoured triskelion on the flag of the Isle of Man Triskelion (or triskele, from Greek τρισκελης three-legged) is a symbol consisting of three bent human legs, or, more generally, three interlocked spirals, or any similar symbol with three protrusions exhibiting a symmetry of the cyclic group C3. ... The swastika (gammadion, fylfot) symbol became a popular symbol of luck in the Western world in the early 20th century, prior to its adoption by Nazi Germany in the 1930s. ...

Notes

1. ^ quoting R.P. Greg, "Meaning and Origin of Fylfot and Swastika," Archaeologia, Vol. XLVIII, 1885, part 2, 1885 (p. 298); Le Comte Goblet d'Alviella, La Migration des Symboles, 1891 (p. 50)
2. ^ quoting from George Waring, Ceramic Art in Remote Ages; John B. Day, London; 1874 (p.10).

References

• Stephen Friar (ed.), A New Dictionary of Heraldry (Alpha Books 1987 ISBN 0-906670-44-6); figure, p. 121
• James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry (1894): online @ heraldsnet.org
• Thomas Wilson, The Swastika: The Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migrations; with Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times. Smithsonian Institution. (1896)
• Thomas Woodcock and John Martin Robinson, The Oxford Guide to Heraldry (Oxford 1990 ISBN 0-19-285224-8); figure, p. 200

The Smithsonian Institution Building or Castle on the National Mall serves as the Institutions headquarters. ... Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar). ...

External links

• Online versions of Wilson's book, The Swastika:
  • The Swastika
  • Swaztika (sic) (a scan of the original publication)

• "The Swastika in Heraldry" – Heraldica.org
• Symbol 15:1 – Symbols.com