Federal sign (student union)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The federal sign , also known as the "large federal sign" in its most pronounced form, is a compilation of identity symbols, especially of old student associations .

history

The tradition goes back to the Masonic -oriented student orders of the 18th century, who inscribed secret signs in letters, but also in family books, to express their membership in these "secret societies" or even hidden them in the text. Over time there developed fairly complex graphical structures which are then also from around 1800 resulting Corps , were taken, the oldest still existing form of fraternity.

When the family registers went out of fashion, the federal symbols were only shown in the student coats of arms in a field on the shield.

Typical components of a federal symbol are the crossed scaling sticks, usually framed or underlaid by a laurel wreath. Depending on where the university is located, it is a basketball or bell hammer , but sometimes also the old Parisians (rapier) . This element of the federal mark symbolically emphasizes the ability of the members of the respective federal government to be satisfied and is therefore also called the satisfaction mark.

In addition, there are electoral and / or coat of arms motto of the association, often only in the form of the initial letters, as well as the colors, which were listed in written form, since coloring was often out of the question when it was originally used.

The founding date was also important and could not be missing.

A homage to the founder ("Stifter-Vivat") was popular, if it was a single leader who had initiated the foundation, in the form of "vivat XY" (or "vt XY" for short). Instead of XY, the name was shown here, but it was also often abbreviated.

The number of founding boys was given with the so-called "point break". A horizontal line - similar to a fraction line - was drawn. Three points were set above the line for the three charged members , and below the line points corresponding to the number of remaining founding members. Instead of the dots there are often small crosses. It can be assumed that the three batch marks above the fraction line are the origin of the batch symbols still used today.

The old traditional federal symbols are an important source for student historians today. Associations that were established from around 1820 rarely have such meaningful federal symbols. They are often satisfied with the crossed clubs over a laurel wreath and the date of foundation inscribed.

corps

See also

literature

  • Erich Bauer : Schimmerbuch for young corps students , 4th edition, o. O., 1971, p. 15 f.
  • Aribert Schwenke: Symbols, emblems and secret signs in the Kösener corps coat of arms. Once and Now, Yearbook of the Association for Corporate Student History Research, Vol. 41 (1996), pp. 29–82.

Remarks

  1. Laurel wreath with two crossed bells , in the upper field the circle , on the right the date of foundation XXI.V.1810, below the coat of arms saying "Gladius ultor" and the abbreviated coat of arms saying vfifi ("vivant fratres intimo foedere iuncti") as well as the "point break" with three Dots at the top for the three men in charge and four dots at the bottom for the rest of the founding boys, the letters "V" and "H" for "Vivat Haaser" (homage to the founder of the corps) to the left and right of the broken dot, the colors "green" in the left field .Schwarz.Weiss ", the date at the bottom (XXV.I.1819) is a reconstitution date.