How Apple designers discovered the Command-Key Symbol from mystic Old Norse symbols

Now, I wrote this book on my trusty Apple MacBook. For anyone familiar with its keyboard, here is a question: what is the following symbol called?

          ⌘

No, it is not the Command Key. The correct answer is: a looped square.

Apple Inc released its first computer, the APPLE-1, in 1976. This was followed the next year by the Apple II and then the Apple II Plus. With the Apple III, released in 1980, the company introduced the () key – the Command Key. But co-founder Steve Jobs was frustrated with the symbol. Apple’s chief designer at the time, Susan Kare, was searching for something to replace the apple symbol. She soon discovered the abstract-looking looped square in a dictionary of world symbols. It was also possible to recreate it as a 16x16 pixel image. And the rest is history. The looped square replaced the fruit logo on all keyboards from 1984 when Apple’s computers became Macintosh. But what is this strange symbol?

The looped square that Kare discovered was a symbol commonly used on road signs across several Nordic countries to denote ‘a place of interest’. This started in Finland in the 1950s before spreading to Iceland, Denmark and Sweden. Instead of saying “Command Key”, many Danes allegedly say Seværdighedstegnet (the place of interest key). In Finland, the keys with Apple symbols were often called the Omppu keys (slang for apple). According to one version of the story, Susan Kare received an email a few years later explaining that the symbol dated from the 1100s and signified the turrets of a castle, seen from above – specifically Borgholm Castle, in Öland, Sweden. Well, folks, its history is much older than that. And, of course, it relates to the Viking Age. But if you do an image search for “Viking symbol”, then it is unlikely that an image of the looped square will appear in the results.

The so-called Gotland picture stones are unique in the world, and the island is rich with them. There are more than 560 stones and fragments known to exist. Archaeologists have determined four main styles of stone during the Vendel period.

It is here we find the oldest known example of the looped-square symbol from a picture stone (a runestone with no text) created in Hablingbo, on the island of Gotland. The Hablingbo Havor II stone is dated between 400AD and 600AD. This stone is one of the best-preserved examples of Post-Roman Era artwork from the Nordic region. The circular design is flanked on the stone by two rows of dragon interlace patterns. (See the illustration in this book about Vendel Sweden, from 500AD.)

Researchers have variously described the central symbol. One academic paper calls it a quatrefoil knot, also known as a quatrefoil loop. More broadly, a quatrefoil design of any kind is one that is symmetrical and has four foils or lobes. Archaeologists have discovered that these are a common symbol in Germanic art, but the looped variant only appeared in its developed form during the Vendel Age (Post-Roman and Pre-Viking) in Sweden. These quatrefoil knots/loops appear on many artefacts from the centuries that follow, but they were particularly prevalent in Gotland in the 600s. Another fine example is a gold bracteate East Jutland in Denmark, which also features a prominent quatrefoil loop design.

The quatrefoil loop, known in modern times as a looped square, also has older names. The modern Swedish name is kringla, the name of a bread dating from the 1600s that is akin to pretzel. The English names include Saint John’s Arms and Saint Hannes Cross. The more formal Swedish name is Sankthanskors (Saint Hans Cross), and the same symbol is called Johanneskors (Johann’s Cross) in Danish, silmusnelinurk (Eyelet Triangle) in Estonian and Hannunvaakuna (Hannu’s Arms, related to Saint John the Baptist). The Finns also call it a paw (i.e., of an animal or creature), and this symbol – no matter its name – is far more prominent in Finland because it remains an important pre-Christian national symbol. It once featured on Finnish coins, before Finland joined the euro. The oldest example from Finland dates from 850AD to 1050AD, found carved into an ancient ski. (You might remember seeing it in the section on Finland.) This is thought to be used to promise safe travel – the risk of falling through ice remains a risk even today.

Unlike rune symbols, this has been a magical/superstitious symbol for over 1000 years. It appears across Finland in many forms: square, like on the Apple keyboard, or diagonal, like a cross. For centuries, it was customary to paint Hannunvaakuna on barns, farm buildings and houses for good luck. It also featured heavily in Finnish design, embroidery, clothing and jewellery. The National Museum in Helsinki has several examples of these ancient, traditional knots.

The diagonal Hannunvaakuna is also directly related to the Noidansolmu, known across Europe as a Witch’s Knot. Interestingly, the Witch’s Knot was used to ward off evil spirits in the same way as the Finnish one. And, speaking of witches, there is another Gotland picture stone nicknamed The Snake Witch stone. It is similar in overall structure to Hablingbo Havor II but features a zoomorphic Triskelion (or Triskele, Greek for three times), another ancient European motif. This one has three jointed segments rather than four. Below it is a seated woman holding up two different snakes.

The zoomorphic triskele was a symbol or design motif popular during the mid- (AD 570-630) to late (AD 630-690) Vendel period. It often appeared on brooches that have survived from the time. Although similar in appearance to Celtic and Germanic art of the time, the Nordic version only has vague parallels with those. This makes the zoomorphic triskele of this style distinctly Nordic. One unique thing about the Snake Witch Stone is that the three heads are of different animals: a bird, a boar and a wolf. It turns out that the eagle-bear-wolf motif is found repeatedly across the European Continent, but it is rare (in this example) in Scandinavia. Lastly, if you look at the internal design, you will recognise three looped lobes forming a looped triangle of a type consistent with the looped square.

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Some of you may be impatiently wondering about the headline of this section, ‘The Valknut Symbol’. For those who don’t know, there is a triangular symbol on the internet commonly referred to as a Valknut. It looks like this:

This is a frequently occurring symbol that was undoubtedly important before and during the Viking Age. As a result, today it is a popular symbol that many people have as a tattoo. The big myth, however, is that this is incorrectly called a Valknut. It is not. The name was applied to the symbol only in recent centuries, but there is no evidence that it was ever called that by anyone at the time. It is simply an old wives’ tale that has flourished online. In the popular imagination, this symbol is often associated with Odin, death, fate, sacrifice and the afterlife – linked to ancient burials. This is why it is also known as “The Knot of the Slain”. But there is no solid evidence to support this. That said, it is more likely that this distinct symbol is Hrungnishjarta (Hrungnir’s Heart), mentioned in the ancient sagas.

While the looped square is known as a quatrefoil (four lobes), the triangular symbol belongs to a family of interlaced triquetrasymbols, or trefoil. This is the one dating from the Post-Roman period, known as Insular Art. The term derives from the Latin Insula, meaning island, and is specifically Hiberno-Saxon. This is where Celtic knotwork designs originate, and it is possible that the triangular “Norse Knot” (falsely called a Valknut) was once originally inspired by designs from the British Isles. The irony of this whole situation is that there is indeed an ancient class of symbols used in Northern European cultures known in Norse as the Valknute (with an -E). It looks like this:

The looped square (one of several ancient symbols, first seen in Gotland) has been the Valknut(e) all along – the one on the Apple keyboard and Nordic road signs. As far as the Nordic region is concerned, it all started in Gotland. As we know, a wave of immigrants from Gotland moved to “Finland” in AD 600 to 700. This may explain how the symbol became widespread in the region for 1400 years. And, we know that the triangular Hrungnishjarta appears carved on the Oseberg Viking ship when it was buried in the 830s. We now understand this is not called a Valknut. However, the Oseberg grave chamber contained a staggering array of items from that age. Among these are rare, surviving textiles (most just fragments) of clothes, blankets, tents, bedlinens and embroidered tapestries. Many of these feature decorations, patterns, images and symbols of various kinds. One famous tapestry is The Ritual Wagon Procession. Its design includes repeated Valknute symbols (of the square-loop kind) and patterns.

Anyone who has ever done embroidery will know that patterns are created via the grid formed out of each individual hole existing between the threads. It was hard for the Oseberg embroiderers to make round loops at small sizes. Therefore, the small, looped squares on the tapestry are square instead of round. Remarkably, this was the same problem that Apple designer Susan Kare faced some 1153 years later.

For it to appear on the screen, Kare needed to create a 16x16 bitmap version of the logo. The ease of doing so with the looped square was partly why she chose it. Thus, the iconic Apple Command Key symbol became square but with clipped corners to imitate roundness on the screen. Perhaps this Northern European good-luck symbol unknowingly blessed Apple's ultimate success.

Jesse Karjalainen is an author, illustrator, podcaster and YouTuber (@JesseDotExpert). This article is extracted from his latest book, Thor’s Day - Untangling the real history, art and language of Viking Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon Britain (on amazon). The above images are drawn by me and are protected by copyright. Please do not steal from an independent artist. If you want use the images, reach out and ask me for permission.