Sowilo (*''sōwilō''), meaning "sun", is the reconstructed

Proto-Germanic language Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

name of the ''s''-

rune Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, a ...

(ᛊ, ᛋ). The letter is a direct adoption of Old Italic (Etruscan or Latin) ''s'' (𐌔), ultimately from Greek

sigma Sigma (; uppercase Σ, lowercase σ, lowercase in word-final position ς; grc-gre, σίγμα) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 200. In general mathematics, uppercase Σ is used as ...

(Σ). It is present in the earliest inscriptions of the 2nd to 3rd century (

Vimose Finds from Vimose (), on the island of Funen, Denmark, include some of the oldest datable Elder Futhark runic inscriptions in early Proto-Norse or late Proto-Germanic from the 2nd to 3rd century in the Scandinavian Iron Age and were written in t ...

Kovel Kovel (, ; pl, Kowel; yi, קאוולע / קאוולי ) is a city in Volyn Oblast (province), in northwestern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Kovel Raion (district). Population: Kovel gives its name to one of the oldest runi ...

). The name is attested for the same rune in all three

Rune Poems Rune poems are poems that list the letters of runic alphabets while providing an explanatory poetic stanza for each letter. Three different poems have been preserved: the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, the Norwegian Rune Poem, and the Icelandic Rune Poem ...

. It appears as

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

and

Old Icelandic Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

Sól and as

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

Sigel.

Name

The Germanic words for "

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

" have the peculiarity of alternating between ''-l-'' and ''-n-'' stems,

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...

''*sunnon'' (Old English ''sunne'', Old Norse, Old Saxon and Old High German ''sunna'') vs. *''sōwilō'' or *''sōwulō'' (Old Norse ''sól'', Gothic ''sauil'', also Old High German forms such as ''suhil''). This continues a

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

alternation ''*suwen-'' vs. '' *sewol-'' (

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

''xweng'' vs.

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

'' sōl'', Greek ''helios'', Sanskrit ''

surya Surya (; sa, सूर्य, ) is the sun as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchayatana puja and a m ...

'', Welsh ''haul'', Breton ''heol'', Old Irish ''suil'' "eye"), a remnant of an archaic, so-called "

heteroclitic Proto-Indo-European nominals include nouns, adjectives, and pronouns. Their grammatical forms and meanings have been reconstructed by modern linguists, based on similarities found across all Indo-European languages. This article discusses nouns a ...

", declension pattern that remained productive only in the

Anatolian languages The Anatolian languages are an extinct branch of Indo-European languages that were spoken in Anatolia, part of present-day Turkey. The best known Anatolian language is Hittite, which is considered the earliest-attested Indo-European language. ...

. The Old English name of the rune, written ''sigel'' (pronounced ) is most often explained as a remnant of an otherwise extinct ''l-''stem variant of the word for "Sun" (meaning that the spelling with ''g'' is unetymological), but alternative suggestions have been put forward, such as deriving it from Latin ''sigillum'' (assuming that the ''y'' is the unetymological element instead).

Development and variants

The

Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Peri ...

''s'' rune is attested in main two variants, a " Σ shape" (four strokes), more prevalent in earlier (3rd to 5th century) inscriptions (e.g.

Kylver stone The Kylver stone, listed in the Rundata catalog as runic inscription G 88, is a Swedish runestone which dates from about 400 AD. It is notable for its listing of each of the runes in the Elder Futhark. Description The Kylver stone was found durin ...

), and an " S shape" (three strokes), more prevalent in later (5th to 7th century) inscriptions (e.g.

Golden horns of Gallehus The Golden Horns of Gallehus were two horns made of Sheet metal, sheet gold, discovered in Gallehus, north of Møgeltønder in Southern Jutland, Denmark.Seeland-II-C Seeland-II-C (Sjælland bracteate 2) is a Scandinavian bracteate from Zealand, Denmark, that has been dated to the Migration period (around 500 AD). The bracteate bears an Elder Futhark inscription which reads as: :ᚺᚨᚱᛁᚢᚺᚨᚺᚨᛁ� ...

). The

Younger Futhark The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries. The r ...

''Sol'' and the Anglo-Saxon futhorc ''Sigel'' runes are identical in shape, a rotated version of the later

rune, with the middle stroke slanting upwards, and the initial and final strokes vertical. The Anglo-Saxon runes developed a variant shape (), called the "bookhand" ''s'' rune because it is probably inspired by the

long s The long s , also known as the medial s or initial s, is an archaism, archaic form of the lowercase letter . It replaced the single ''s'', or one or both of the letters ''s'' in a 'double ''s sequence (e.g., "ſinfulneſs" for "sinfulness" ...

(ſ) in

Insular script Insular script was a medieval script system originating from Ireland that spread to Anglo-Saxon England and continental Europe under the influence of Irish Christianity. Irish missionaries took the script to continental Europe, where they found ...

. This variant form is used in the ''futhorc'' given on the

Seax of Beagnoth The Seax of Beagnoth (also known as the Thames scramasax) is a 10th-century Anglo-Saxon seax (single-edged knife). It was found in the inland estuary of the Thames in 1857, and is now at the British Museum in London. It is a prestige wea ...

Rune poems

Image:Runic letter sowilo.svg,

''Sowilo'' rune, earlier ("Σ") variant. Image:Runic letter sowilo variant.svg, Elder Futhark ''Sowilo'' rune, later ("S") variant. Image:Long-branch Sol.svg, Anglo-Saxon ''Sigel'' / Younger Futhark ''Sol'' rune Image:Long-branch Kaun.svg, Anglo-Saxon "bookhand ''s''"

Relationship with Armanen runes

Guido von List Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List (5 October 1848 – 17 May 1919), was an Austrians, Austrian occultism, occultist, journalist, playwright, and novelist. He expounded a Modern Paganism, modern Pagan new religious movement kno ...

used Sowilō as the basis for the

Armanen Armanism and Ariosophy are esoteric ideological systems that were developed largely by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', which means the wisdom of the Aryans, was in ...

''sig'' rune, also known as the "Siegrune". Unlike the rune used historically by the

Germanic peoples The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...

, the name of which translates to "sun", he associated his new rune with "victory" (German ') based on similarity in sound with the name of the Anglo-Frisian rune ''sigel''. The Armanen sig rune was adapted into the emblem of the SS in 1933 by

Walter Heck Walter Heck was a German graphic designer who created the SS double rune symbol for the Nazi Schutzstaffel in 1929, the SA-Runes badge, and co-designed the all-black SS uniform in 1932. He was a company commander in the Sturmabteilung (SA), and ...

. Heck's design consisted of two ''sig'' runes drawn side by side like lightning bolts and was adopted by all branches of the SS.

Name

Development and variants

Rune poems

Relationship with Armanen runes

See also

References

Sources

Further reading