The ( Icelandic for "wayfinder", ) is an Icelandic magical stave intended to help the bearer find their way through rough weather. The symbol is attested in the Huld Manuscript, collected in Iceland by Geir Vigfusson in

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

in 1860, in the National Library in Reykjavík and does not have any earlier attestations. Despite its lack of a clear connection to the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

, the symbol is often erroneously called a Viking compass. A leaf of the manuscript provides an image of the , gives its name, and, in prose, declares that "if this sign is carried, one will never lose one's way in storms or bad weather, even when the way is not known".Flowers (1989:88). in the National Library in Reykjavík Stephen E. Flowers lists the Vegvisir in his translation of the Galdrabók, but in a later publication cites it in “Isländische Zauberzeichen und Zauberbücher” by Ólafur Davíðsson rather than the Galdrabók. Tomáš Vlasatý claims that it is not only in the Huld manuscript but also in two other Icelandic

grimoires A grimoire () (also known as a book of spells, magic book, or a spellbook) is a textbook of Magic (supernatural), magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical Incan ...

, Galdrakver (designated Lbs 2917 a 4to and Lbs 4627 8vo) and has Christian roots.

Etymology

is a

compound word In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word or Sign language, sign) that consists of more than one Word stem, stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. C ...

formed from the two Icelandic words, and . means 'way, road, path' (), and ,

inflection In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...

form of , 'to show, to let know, to guide' (). is derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

Proto-Germanic 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 ...

, or the

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

. is derived from the Old Norse meaning 'to show, point out, indicate', or the Proto-Germanic or , meaning 'to visit'. ('way') + ('pointer') derives its meaning from the same word as the English ''wise''. It points someone the right way.

Notes

Bibliography

* Flowers, Stephen (1989). ''The Galdrabók: An Icelandic Grimoire''. Samuel Weiser, Inc. *Justin Foster Huld Manuscript of Galdrastafir Witchcraft Magic Symbols and Runes - English Translation (2015) *Geirsson, Olgair (2004). ''Galdrakver: A Book of Magic''. Landsbokasafn Islands Haskolabokasafn *Skuggi J Eggertsson ''Galdraskraeda'' The Sorcerer's Screed

External links

Scans of the Huld Manuscript, including the Vegvísir, at Handrit.is
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vegvisir Icelandic folklore Culture of Iceland Witchcraft in Iceland Magic symbols

Etymology

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links