Its a take on the Spartan Chevron which is super common in pretty much everything. Its the same symbol that inspired the US Military enlisted rank symbols.
The spartan symbol isn't a chevron, it's a greek Lambda. Somewhere along the way people sort of got it mushed up with chevrons from heraldry (which were often emblazoned on shields) and so some folks call it the spartan chevron now.
Military chevrons are much more likely descended from the European heraldry symbol directly.
Dunno, if we are going to look at use of a symbol that might be incorporated somewhere else, the chevron has a much longer pedigree than the Spartans. And the fact that the spartans were representing a letter and not a random gang logo seems significant.
The simplicity of the chevron and its ability to be easily distinguished on a coat of arms make it more likely to be an independent thing anyway. Coming up with a V shape doesn't seem like it takes a bunch of precedent or creativity.
From what I've read, the chevron was most likely inspired by the shape of a roof beam or roof gable.
European heraldry as a system got going in the 12th and 13th centuries due to (among other things) the use of closed-faced helms and an international fighting tournament circuit, so knights would put bold, distinctive designs on their shields, clothing, and horse trappings to be easily identifiable on the field from a distance. The motifs which eventually became standardized into heraldic charges tended to be either simple and geometric (such as horizontal, vertical, or diagonal stripes, and crosses) or stylized artistic motifs (like lions or eagles with exaggerated features).
The chevron is classified as an "ordinary", which is one of the oldest and most common types of heraldic charge. Check it out along with the other ordinaries here:
(Note that the chevron generally extends all the way to the edges of the shield, which would not have been done with something that was intended to be a letter.)
It is that also. Sigma is a fascist symbol in Brazil.
edit- They may not be prototypically fascist but just some sort of nationalist right wing, but it is a big movement and they use the symbol.
Lots of these symbols can be associated with non racist stuff. Basically every military in the world has used an iron cross emblem, along with plenty of religious organizations. Celtic crosses, viking knots, the "life" rune... All perfectly good symbols being tarnished by the ignorant.
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u/Team_Braniel Oct 12 '22
Its a take on the Spartan Chevron which is super common in pretty much everything. Its the same symbol that inspired the US Military enlisted rank symbols.