Saint John's Arms
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⌘, a square with loops at the corners, which is sometimes referred to as Saint John's Arms, the Place of Interest Sign,[1] or Saint Hannes cross, is an ancient symbol now commonly used throughout Northern Europe.
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[edit] Ancient use
The symbol appears on a number of objects in Northern Europe. It features prominently on an image stone from Hablingbo, Gotland, Sweden that was created between 400-600 AD. [2]
It is also similar to a traditional heraldic emblem called a Bowen knot.[3]
In Finland, the symbol was painted or carved on houses, barns and everyday objects such as tableware to protect them and their owners from evil spirits and bad luck. Oldest known findings are decorations on a pair of 1000-year-old, pre-Christian wooden skis.[4]
[edit] Modern use
In modern times, the symbol is commonly found in Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden as an indicator of cultural locations. Unicode standards documents such as U2300 (Miscellaneous Technical, Range 2300-23FF) call it the "Place of Interest sign".
The symbol later gained international recognition via computing. It is used on the Apple Macintosh's keyboard as the symbol for the command key, where it got a variety of slang names: "cloverleaf", "splat", "splodge", "butterfly", "squiggle", "beanie", "cauliflower", "propeller", "shamrock", and "puppy print". Its Unicode code is U+2318: ⌘.
 The ⌘ symbol as seen on Rana museum, Norway. |
 A road sign for the Turku Cathedral showing Saint John's Arms. |
 An Apple command key. |
 Trakai Island Castle sign in Lithuania |
 Sign on the house wall in Estonia |
[edit] References
- ^ Official Unicode documentation refers to the symbol as the "the Place of Interest Sign". See official documentation: [1]
- ^ The picture stone may be viewed online here: [2]
- ^ James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry (Oxford, 1894). [3] Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
- ^ Ilmar Talve: Suomen kansankulttuuri (1990)
[edit] See also
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