Typophile

node 5198

unknown

some wingdings characters

Can anybody tell me what are those Wingdings characters? What do they mean/represent?

I've seen them one in print (just the first one) and once in the interface of a database software (first and second).

unknown

A good symbol dictionary (like Liungman's*) will tell you that the first is Scorpio (although it seems that usually the arrow either curls to point up or goes diagonally down-right, not straight), closely associated with birth, sex and death; it's also the symbol for Separation in alchemy. The second one is Virgo; Distillation in alchemy. The third sign I couldn't find (I checked in Koch's "Book of Signs" too), but it seems to be closest to Saturn/lead, although it's also similar to the sign for Leo/Digestion. Or it could be a "facilitation" of Virgo.

* Interestingly, the first two signs are on the back cover of his book!

hhp

unknown

As I recall the Wingdings symbols were drawn by Chuck Bigelow. Zodiac symbols, apparently influenced by Chucks versions, also appear in Apple's Symbol font.

Cheers, Si

Captured from web.archive.org on 28 Nov 2005. view this capture