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A cross potent, also known as a crutch cross, is a form of heraldic cross with crossbars or "crutches" at the four ends. In German, it is known as a ''Krückenkreuz'' (literally "crutches cross"). ''Potent'' is an old word for a crutch, from a late Middle English alteration of Old French ''potence'' 'crutch', from Latin ''potentia'' 'power' (which in medieval Latin meant 'crutch').〔Oxford English Dictionary, 1st. edition, entry "Potent (sb.¹ and a.²)".〕 The term ''potent'' is also used in heraldic terminology to describe a 'T' shaped alteration of vair, and ''potenté'' is a line of partition contorted into a series of 'T' shapes.〔Fox-Davies (1909), p. 94.〕 == History == The cross potent already appeared in Neolithic petroglyphs, dating back to 2500 BC. In Old Persian, the sign stood for *maguš 'magician, magi'. It was borrowed into Chinese as the character 巫, pronounced *myag in Old Chinese and as ''wū'' in standard Mandarin.〔()〕 The Kingdom of Jerusalem famously bore a gold cross potent between four crosslets upon a silver field.〔Fox-Davies (1909), p. 85.〕 Upon the passage of the 1924 Schilling Act it was used as a national symbol of the Austrian First Republic, minted on the backside of the Groschen coins. In 1934 it became the emblem of the Austrofascist Federal State of Austria, adopted from the ruling Fatherland's Front, an authoritarian traditionalist political organisation led by Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. Today the cross potent is used by many, mostly Roman Catholic, Scouting and Guiding organisations in their logos and insignia. It is currently used in the coats of arms of the Santa Cruz Department in Bolivia, and of the Wingolf Christian student fraternities in Germany, Austria and Estonia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「cross potent」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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