Sowilō (rune)

Name

The Germanic words for "Sun" have the peculiarity of alternating between -l- and -n- stems, Proto-Germanic *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 alternation *suwen- vs. *sewol- (Avestan xᵛə̄ṇg vs. Latin sōl, Greek helios, Sanskrit surya, Welsh haul, Breton heol, Old Irish suil "eye"), a remnant of an archaic heteroclitic declension pattern that remained productive only in the Anatolian languages.

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 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), and an "S shape" (three strokes), more prevalent in later (5th to 7th century) inscriptions (e.g. Golden horns of Gallehus, Seeland-II-C).

The Younger Futhark Sol and the Anglo-Saxon futhorc Sigel runes are identical in shape, a rotated version of the later Elder Futhark 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 (ſ) in Insular script. This variant form is used in the futhorc given on the Seax of Beagnoth.

Rune poems

Image:Runic letter sowilo.svg|Elder Futhark 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 used Sowilō as the basis for the Armanen sig rune, also known as the "Siegrune".

The Armanen sig rune was adapted into the emblem of the SS in 1933 by Walter Heck. Heck's design consisted of two sig runes drawn side by side like lightning bolts and was adopted by all branches of the SS.

References

Sources

References

1. Joseph Bosworth]], ''A dictionary of the Anglo-Saxon language'' (1838), s.v. "Sigel"
2. (1956). "Die germanischen Runennamen Versuch einer Gesamtdeutung". A. Hain.
3. (1980). "Runes: An Introduction". Manchester University Press.
4. (1981). "The Old English Rune Poem: A Critical Edition". University of Toronto Press.
5. (March 2017). "The Old English Name of the S-Rune and 'Sun' in Germanic". Journal of Germanic Linguistics.
6. Original poems and translation from the [http://www.ragweedforge.com/poems.html Rune Poem Page] {{webarchive. link. (1999-05-01 .)
7. (1993). "The Allgemeine-SS". Bloomsbury USA.
8. (2020). "Proceedings of the 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Image and Imagination".