Editing Fylfot (section)

==Modern use of the term==
From its use in heraldry{{snd}}or from its use by antiquaries{{snd}}''fylfot'' has become an established word for this symbol, in at least British English.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} 

Thomas Wilson, writing in 1896, says, "The use of Fylfot is confined to comparatively few persons in Great Britain and, possibly, Scandinavia. Outside of these countries it is scarcely known, used, or understood".<ref name=Wilson>{{cite book |title=The Swastika: The Earliest Known Symbol, and Its Migrations; with Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times |first=Thomas |last=Wilson |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |date=1896 |url=https://archive.org/details/theswastika00wilsuoft/page/n5/mode/2up |page=769{{ndash}}770}}</ref>

[[Frederick William Fairholt]]'s 1854 ''Dictionary of Terms in Art'' defined the fylfot as:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fairholt |first=Frederick William |author-link=Frederick William Fairholt |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Dictionary_of_Terms_in_Art_Edited_and/jtdhAAAAcAAJ |title=A Dictionary of Terms in Art |date= |publisher=[[Virtue, Hall & Virtue]] |year=1854 |volume=1 |pages=200 |language=en}}</ref>

{{Quote|A cross of peculiar form, frequently introduced in decoration and embroidery during the middle ages. It occurs on monumental brasses anterior to the accession of [[Richard II]]., being found on the girdle of a priest of the date A.D. 1011. It is considered to have been in use at a very remote period as a mystic symbol amongst religious devotees in India and China, whence it was introduced into Europe about the sixth century.}}

In his 1891 ''The Migration of Symbols'', [[Eugène Goblet d'Alviella]] wrote of the swastika under the names tetraskelion ({{Langx|fr|tétraskèle}}), gammadion ({{Lang|fr|croix gammée}}), or fylfot, ascribing to this name an [[Old English]] etymology:<ref name="d'Alviella-1891">{{Cite book |last=Goblet d'Alviella |first=Eugène |author-link=Eugène Goblet d'Alviella |url=https://archive.org/details/b24864791/page/49 |title=La migration des symboles |publisher=[[Ernest Leroux]] |others= |year=1891 |location=Paris |pages=49–50 |language=fr |trans-title=The Migration of Symbols}}</ref><ref name="d'Alviella-1894">{{Cite book |last=Goblet d'Alviella |first=Eugène |author-link=Eugène Goblet d'Alviella |url=https://archive.org/details/migrationsymbol00alvgoog/page/n71 |title=The Migration of Symbols |publisher=[[A. Constable and Co]] |others= |year=1894 |location=London |pages=39 |language=en-GB}}</ref>{{Text and translation|{{lang|fr|Les Anglo-Saxons donnaient à la croix gammée le nom de|italic=no}} ''fylfot'', {{lang|fr|du norrain|italic=no}} {{lang|non|fiöl}} (full, {{lang|de|viel|italic=no}} {{lang|fr|« nombreux ») et|italic=no}} {{lang|non|fot}} (foot, {{lang|de|fuss|italic=no}} {{lang|fr|« pieds »). On l'a observée sur des poteries et des vases funéraires, dès l'âge du bronze, en Silésie, en Poméranie, dans les îles orientales du Danemark. Aux âges suivants, elle se rencontre sur des objets de parure, des poignées d'épée, des bractéates d'or, des rocs sculptés et des pierres tombales. Chez les Scandinaves, elle finit par se combiner, sans doute sous l'influence du christianisme, avec la croix latine.|italic=no}}|2=The Anglo-Saxons gave to the ''gammadion'' the name of fylfot, from the Norse {{lang|non|fiöl}} (full, {{lang|de|viel|italic=no}} = "numerous"), and {{lang|non|fot}} (foot). It has been observed on pottery and funeral urns of the bronze age in [[Silesia]], in [[Pomerania]], and the eastern islands of Denmark. In the following ages it is met with on ornaments, on sword-hilts, on golden [[bracteate|brackets]], on sculptured rocks, and on tombstones. Amongst the Scandinavians it ended by combining, doubtlessly under the influence of Christianity, with the [[Latin Cross]].|3=[[Eugène Goblet d'Alviella]], ''The Migration of Symbols''<ref name="d'Alviella-1891"/><ref name="d'Alviella-1894"/>}}In more recent times, ''fylfot'' has gained greater currency within the areas of design history and collecting, where it is used to distinguish the swastika motif as used in designs and jewellery from that used in Nazi paraphernalia. After the appropriation of the swastika by Nazi organisations, the term ''fylfot'' has been used to distinguish historical and non-Nazi instances of the symbol from those where the term swastika might carry specific connotations. The word "swastika" itself was appropriated into English from [[Sanskrit]] in the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=Oxford English Dictionary |entry=Swastika |date=1933 |entry-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.120833/page/n1120/mode/1up |page=290 |volume=X. Sole{{ndash}}Sz |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> However, the word and symbol continue to have major religious significance for Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and other eastern faiths. For this reason, some{{Who|date=February 2025}} have campaigned to have all uses of the word in a Nazi context changed to use the {{langx|de|[[Hakenkreuz]]}} [hooked cross].<ref name="How the world loved the swastika - until Hitler stole it – BBC – Mukti Jain Campion">{{cite news |last1=Campion |first1=Mukti Jain |title=How the world loved the swastika – until Hitler stole it |work=BBC News |date=23 October 2014 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29644591 |access-date=15 February 2022}}</ref> 

''[[Hansard]]'' for 12 June 1996 reports a House of Commons discussion about the badge of [[No. 273 Squadron RAF|No. 273 Fighter Squadron]], [[Royal Air Force]].<ref>{{cite hansard |house=House of Commons |jurisdiction=United Kingdom |title=273 Squadron (Badge) | url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1996/jun/12/273-squadron-badge |date=12 June 1996 |column_start=397 |column_end=404 |speaker=Mr. [[Nigel Waterson]] |position=Member for [[Eastbourne (UK Parliament constituency)|Eastbourne]] }} </ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.militarybadges.co.uk/blazer-badges/raf-squadrons/273-squadron-raf-old-pattern-blazer-badge?zenid=f9uuh89m45689p36coip34hom5 |title=273 Squadron RAF (Old Pattern) badge |work=militarybadges.co.uk |date=2015 |access-date=31 March 2015}}</ref>  In this, ''fylfot'' is used to describe the ancient symbol, and ''swastika'' used as if it refers ''only'' to the symbol used by the Nazis.