Vegvísir

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 (1860), and does not have any earlier attestations.

Despite its lack of a clear connection to the Viking Age, the symbol is often erroneously called a Viking compass.

Etymology is a compound word formed from the two Icelandic words: () and (). means 'way, road, path', and is an inflected form of , 'to show, to let know, to guide, point out, indicate'. Its meaning is comparable to English wise, as in, 'it points someone the right way'.

The construction also exists in other Germanic languages: , , , variously meaning "signpost, directionary", etc. The word can be traced back to the 15th century (Old Danish: veivisere; Old Swedish: væghvisare) in its literal and figurative sense.

Huld manuscript The first shows up in the Huld Manuscript (ÍB 383 4to), today part of the National Library in Reykjavík. The manuscript is a collection of occult symbols and therof, collected in Iceland by Geir Vigfusson in Akureyri in 1860. A leaf of the manuscript (page 60) provides an image of the symbol, 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).

Stephen E. Flowers lists the Vegvisir in his translation of the grimoire 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, Galdrakver (designated Lbs 2917 a 4to and Lbs 4627 8vo) and has Christian roots.

Vegvísir

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