Looped square
The looped square (⌘), also known as Saint John's Arms, Saint Hannes cross (related to Swedish sankthanskors, Danish johanneskors, and Finnish hannunvaakuna), and as the command-key symbol due to its use on the command key on Apple computer keyboards, is a symbol consisting of a square with outward pointing loops at its corners. It is referred to as a looped square, for example, in works regarding the Mississippian culture[1] (approximately 800 AD to 1600 AD). It is also known as the place of interest sign[2] when used on information signs, a practice that started in Finland in the 1950s, spreading to the other Nordic countries in the 1960s.[3]
It is an ancient symbol used by several cultures, and remains in common use today. It belongs to a class of symbols which are called valknute in Norway.[4]
Ancient use
[edit | edit source]The symbol appears on a number of ancient objects in Northern Europe. It features prominently on a picture stone from Hablingbo, Gotland, Sweden, that was created between 400 and 600 AD.[5]
It is also similar to a traditional heraldic emblem called a Bowen knot.[6]
In Finland, the symbol was painted or carved on houses and barns, and domestic utensils such as tableware, to protect them and their owners from evil spirits and bad luck. The oldest surviving example is a pair of 1000-year-old (Finnish pre-Christian period) wooden skis decorated with the symbol.[7][8]
The looped square also appears on artifacts of the Mississippian culture of the southeastern United States.[1]
While not a true knot, many depictions follow the convention for heraldic knots in that the crossings of the strand obey an under–over pattern.
Traditional names
[edit | edit source]The English names Saint John's Arms, Saint Hannes cross or Saint Hans's Cross as well as the Scandinavian names refer to John the Baptist. The connection is that the celebration of Midsummer's Eve is a major festival in Scandinavia, which in the Julian calendar coincided with the Christian feast celebrating the nativity of Saint John the Baptist, and that the (pagan) symbol was associated with the Midsummer celebrations.[9]
Modern use
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In modern times, the symbol is commonly found in Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, and Ukraine as an indicator of locations of cultural interest, beginning in Finland in the 1950s and spreading to the other Nordic countries in the 1960s.[3] There has been modern speculation that it was chosen for its resemblance to an aerial view of Borgholm Castle;[10] however, as stated its use for attractions began in Finland, not Sweden, and the symbol is well-represented in Scandinavian artifacts that predate the current castle by centuries.[5]
The symbol later gained international recognition via computing. It is used on Apple keyboards as the symbol for the command key[11] as well as in elementary OS as the symbol for the Super key.[12]
The looped square is used in the logos of Belgian telecommunications company Proximus and Canadian software company DistillerSR.[13][14]
Encoding
[edit | edit source]In Unicode, it is encoded at U+2318 ⌘ <reserved-2318>, in the block Miscellaneous Technical.
Gallery
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Designation for Estonian Cultural heritage monuments
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Cox mound gorget (Mississippian culture, found in Tennessee, c.1250–1450)
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Cheese moulds in the National Museum of Finland, Helsinki
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The ⌘ symbol, Rana museum, Norway
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An Apple command key
See also
[edit | edit source]References
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- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Coat of arms for Lødingen Municipality, blazoned in the Norwegian Royal Decree of 11 May 1984, quoted in Hans Cappelen og Knut Johannessen: Norske kommunevåpen, Oslo 1987, page 197. The term is also used in Anders Bjønnes: Segltegninger fra hyllingene i Norge 1591 og 1610, Oslo 2010, pages 64–65.
- ^ a b Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Webb, Stephen: Clash of Symbols: A ride through the riches of glyphs, 1st ed. 2018, p. 61, Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)., online, p. 61, at Google Books
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Why the Looped Square (⌘) Symbol?. Medium. 1 March 2018.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to Lua error in Module:Commons_link at line 62: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). at Wikimedia Commons
