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  1. What, if any, distinction was found (or imagined) by White Wolf between the two amalgam symbols, used for Correspondence and Matter, is unknown. Medicinisch-Chymisch, at least, makes no such distinction. White Wolf may simply have liked both designs.

  2. The symbol used in Mage for Forces does match up nicely with a fairly common—though not common enough to get Wikipedia or Unicode treatment—alchemical symbol for boiling. It doesn’t, however, match up very well with the Medicinisch-Chymisch symbol for ebullitio, which adds another leg and splits up the crossbars between the two legs.

  3. “Sol” is “the Sun,” and “aurum” is “gold.” The “ſ.” here is a long s (ſ not f), and in particular, it is in Blackletter font, indicating it is German and not Latin. It stands for “ſiehe,” meaning “see,” and has a similar usage in German as “cf.” does in English. So this is basically “Sun, see also gold,” where gold is listed as “Aurum, sol,” or “Gold, Sun.”

    Alchemists heavily associated gold with the Sun and often used the astrological symbol for the sun, U+2609 ☉, to mean gold. Unicode also includes U+1F71A 🜚 as the alchemical symbol for gold, which in some fonts looks rather similar to that for the Sun. Amusingly, Unicode also includes a very similar “see also” note on U+1F71A 🜚, pointing to U+2609 ☉.

    My guess here is that the idea is the “Aurum, sol” entry is for symbols used for both gold and the Sun, while “Sol, ſ. aurum” is for symbols that are used only for the Sun, and don’t mean “gold.” The “ſiehe” is reminding the reader that if they’re looking for symbols for the Sun, they should also consider all the symbols for gold. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide a German translation as he does for so many other entries, most likely because “sol” and “aurum” were rather well-known Latin words, so this is somewhat speculative on my part.

    Also, note that the Wikipedia list associates Mind with solutio, folvere which is a large stretch, and simply wrong considering how close the penultimate “Sol, ſ. aurum” entry is. This may have just been misunderstanding the rather dense table, since “solutio” is immediately after “sol, ſ. aurum” and the entries kind of run into one another (plus the lack of translation on “sol, ſ. aurum” could make it all look like one entry).

  4. Medicinisch-Chymisch is confusing here, as it has separate entries for “acetum ſ. vinum mortuum” and “vinum mortuum, ſ. acetum.” “Acetum” and “vinum mortuum” both mean vinegar—the author even translates both as “Eſſig,” which is German for vinegar—and it’s a mystery why these two entries are different, or why our Tenth Sphere symbol only appears in the latter. If this book’s entries were in English, we’d have “acedic“acetic acid, cf. vinegar” and “vinegar, cf. acetic acid” as if those were different things.

    Unicode’s U+1F70A 🜊, for the record, is Medicinisch-Chymisch’s entry for “acetum, ſ. vinum mortuum,” i.e. not the entry with the Tenth Sphere symbol. Things sort of like U+1F70B 🜋 are listed for “acetum deſtillatum,” distilled vinegar I suppose, but the symbols have a top crossbar, U+1F70B except the vertical part of the cross looks like a T instead of an I, or they have only two of the four dots, two symbols that look like U+1F70B except they have only the bottom two, or the top two, dots, respectively.

  1. What, if any, distinction was found (or imagined) by White Wolf between the two amalgam symbols, used for Correspondence and Matter, is unknown. Medicinisch-Chymisch, at least, makes no such distinction. White Wolf may simply have liked both designs.

  2. The symbol used in Mage for Forces does match up nicely with a fairly common—though not common enough to get Wikipedia or Unicode treatment—alchemical symbol for boiling. It doesn’t, however, match up very well with the Medicinisch-Chymisch symbol for ebullitio, which adds another leg and splits up the crossbars between the two legs.

  3. “Sol” is “the Sun,” and “aurum” is “gold.” The “ſ.” here is a long s (ſ not f), and in particular, it is in Blackletter font, indicating it is German and not Latin. It stands for “ſiehe,” meaning “see,” and has a similar usage in German as “cf.” does in English. So this is basically “Sun, see also gold,” where gold is listed as “Aurum, sol,” or “Gold, Sun.”

    Alchemists heavily associated gold with the Sun and often used the astrological symbol for the sun, U+2609 ☉, to mean gold. Unicode also includes U+1F71A 🜚 as the alchemical symbol for gold, which in some fonts looks rather similar to that for the Sun. Amusingly, Unicode also includes a very similar “see also” note on U+1F71A 🜚, pointing to U+2609 ☉.

    My guess here is that the idea is the “Aurum, sol” entry is for symbols used for both gold and the Sun, while “Sol, ſ. aurum” is for symbols that are used only for the Sun, and don’t mean “gold.” The “ſiehe” is reminding the reader that if they’re looking for symbols for the Sun, they should also consider all the symbols for gold. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide a German translation as he does for so many other entries, most likely because “sol” and “aurum” were rather well-known Latin words, so this is somewhat speculative on my part.

    Also, note that the Wikipedia list associates Mind with solutio, folvere which is a large stretch, and simply wrong considering how close the penultimate “Sol, ſ. aurum” entry is. This may have just been misunderstanding the rather dense table, since “solutio” is immediately after “sol, ſ. aurum” and the entries kind of run into one another (plus the lack of translation on “sol, ſ. aurum” could make it all look like one entry).

  4. Medicinisch-Chymisch is confusing here, as it has separate entries for “acetum ſ. vinum mortuum” and “vinum mortuum, ſ. acetum.” “Acetum” and “vinum mortuum” both mean vinegar—the author even translates both as “Eſſig,” which is German for vinegar—and it’s a mystery why these two entries are different, or why our Tenth Sphere symbol only appears in the latter. If this book’s entries were in English, we’d have “acedic acid, cf. vinegar” and “vinegar, cf. acetic acid” as if those were different things.

    Unicode’s U+1F70A 🜊, for the record, is Medicinisch-Chymisch’s entry for “acetum, ſ. vinum mortuum,” i.e. not the entry with the Tenth Sphere symbol. Things sort of like U+1F70B 🜋 are listed for “acetum deſtillatum,” distilled vinegar I suppose, but the symbols have a top crossbar, U+1F70B except the vertical part of the cross looks like a T instead of an I, or they have only two of the four dots, two symbols that look like U+1F70B except they have only the bottom two, or the top two, dots, respectively.

  1. What, if any, distinction was found (or imagined) by White Wolf between the two amalgam symbols, used for Correspondence and Matter, is unknown. Medicinisch-Chymisch, at least, makes no such distinction. White Wolf may simply have liked both designs.

  2. The symbol used in Mage for Forces does match up nicely with a fairly common—though not common enough to get Wikipedia or Unicode treatment—alchemical symbol for boiling. It doesn’t, however, match up very well with the Medicinisch-Chymisch symbol for ebullitio, which adds another leg and splits up the crossbars between the two legs.

  3. “Sol” is “the Sun,” and “aurum” is “gold.” The “ſ.” here is a long s (ſ not f), and in particular, it is in Blackletter font, indicating it is German and not Latin. It stands for “ſiehe,” meaning “see,” and has a similar usage in German as “cf.” does in English. So this is basically “Sun, see also gold,” where gold is listed as “Aurum, sol,” or “Gold, Sun.”

    Alchemists heavily associated gold with the Sun and often used the astrological symbol for the sun, U+2609 ☉, to mean gold. Unicode also includes U+1F71A 🜚 as the alchemical symbol for gold, which in some fonts looks rather similar to that for the Sun. Amusingly, Unicode also includes a very similar “see also” note on U+1F71A 🜚, pointing to U+2609 ☉.

    My guess here is that the idea is the “Aurum, sol” entry is for symbols used for both gold and the Sun, while “Sol, ſ. aurum” is for symbols that are used only for the Sun, and don’t mean “gold.” The “ſiehe” is reminding the reader that if they’re looking for symbols for the Sun, they should also consider all the symbols for gold. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide a German translation as he does for so many other entries, most likely because “sol” and “aurum” were rather well-known Latin words, so this is somewhat speculative on my part.

    Also, note that the Wikipedia list associates Mind with solutio, folvere which is a large stretch, and simply wrong considering how close the penultimate “Sol, ſ. aurum” entry is. This may have just been misunderstanding the rather dense table, since “solutio” is immediately after “sol, ſ. aurum” and the entries kind of run into one another (plus the lack of translation on “sol, ſ. aurum” could make it all look like one entry).

  4. Medicinisch-Chymisch is confusing here, as it has separate entries for “acetum ſ. vinum mortuum” and “vinum mortuum, ſ. acetum.” “Acetum” and “vinum mortuum” both mean vinegar—the author even translates both as “Eſſig,” which is German for vinegar—and it’s a mystery why these two entries are different, or why our Tenth Sphere symbol only appears in the latter. If this book’s entries were in English, we’d have “acetic acid, cf. vinegar” and “vinegar, cf. acetic acid” as if those were different things.

    Unicode’s U+1F70A 🜊, for the record, is Medicinisch-Chymisch’s entry for “acetum, ſ. vinum mortuum,” i.e. not the entry with the Tenth Sphere symbol. Things sort of like U+1F70B 🜋 are listed for “acetum deſtillatum,” distilled vinegar I suppose, but the symbols have a top crossbar, U+1F70B except the vertical part of the cross looks like a T instead of an I, or they have only two of the four dots, two symbols that look like U+1F70B except they have only the bottom two, or the top two, dots, respectively.

including English translations of the Latin
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Mage Sphere Medicinisch-Chymisch und Alchemistisches Oraculum Unicode
Correspondence symbol
Correspondence
Amalgam¹
Amalgama
U+1F75B 🝛
Entropy symbol
Entropy
Rot
Putredo
U+1F764 🝤
Forces symbol
Forces¹Forces
Boiling²
Ebullitio
Life symbol
Life
Arrangement, combination; agreement, pact; union
Compoſitio
Matter symbol
Matter
Amalgam¹
Amalgama
U+1F75B 🝛
Life symbol
Mind
The Sun, cf. gold³
Sol, ſ. aurum
U+2609 ☉
(“sun”²“sun”)
Prime symbol
Prime
Essence
Essentia
Spirit symbol
Spirit
Fumes, smoke, steam
Fumus
Time symbol
Time
Dust, powder
Puluis
U+1F74B 🝋
Tenth Sphere symbol
Tenth sphere
Vinegar⁴
Vinum mortuum
U+1F70A 🜊
U+1F70B 🜋
U+1F70C 🜌
(all 3 are “vinegar”³)
  1. What, if any, distinction was found (or imagined) by White Wolf between the two amalgam symbols, used for Correspondence and Matter, is unknown. Medicinisch-Chymisch, at least, makes no such distinction. White Wolf may simply have liked both designs.

  2. The symbol used in Mage for Forces does match up nicely with a fairly common—though not common enough to get Wikipedia or Unicode treatment—alchemical symbol for boiling. It doesn’t, however, match up very well with the Medicinisch-Chymisch symbol for ebullitio, which adds another leg and splits up the crossbars between the two legs.

  3. “Sol” is “the Sun,” and “aurum” is “gold.” The “ſ.” here is a long s (ſ not f), and in particular, it is in Blackletter font, indicating it is German and not Latin. It stands for “ſiehe,” meaning “see,” and has a similar usage in German as “cf.” does in English. So this is basically “Sun, see also gold,” where gold is listed as “Aurum, sol,” or “Gold, Sun.”

    Alchemists heavily associated gold with the Sun and often used the astrological symbol for the sun, U+2609 ☉, to mean gold. Unicode also includes U+1F71A 🜚 as the alchemical symbol for gold, which in some fonts looks rather similar to that for the Sun. Amusingly, Unicode also includes a very similar “see also” note on U+1F71A 🜚, pointing to U+2609 ☉.

    My guess here is that the idea is the “Aurum, sol” entry is for symbols used for both gold and the Sun, while “Sol, ſ. aurum” is for symbols that are used only for the Sun, and don’t mean “gold.” The “ſiehe” is reminding the reader that if they’re looking for symbols for the Sun, they should also consider all the symbols for gold. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide a German translation as he does for so many other entries, most likely because “sol” and “aurum” were rather well-known Latin words, so this is somewhat speculative on my part.

    Also, note that the Wikipedia list associates Mind with solutio, folvere which is a large stretch, and simply wrong considering how close the penultimate “Sol, ſ. aurum” entry is. This may have just been misunderstanding the rather dense table, since “solutio” is immediately after “sol, ſ. aurum” and the entries kind of run into one another (plus the lack of translation on “sol, ſ. aurum” could make it all look like one entry).

  4. Medicinisch-Chymisch is confusing here, as it has separate entries for “acetum ſ. vinum mortuum” and “vinum mortuum, ſ. acetum.” “Acetum” and “vinum mortuum” both mean vinegar—the author even translates both as “Eſſig,” which is German for vinegar—and it’s a mystery why these two entries are different, or why our Tenth Sphere symbol only appears in the latter. If this book’s entries were in English, we’d have “acedic acid, cf. vinegar” and “vinegar, cf. acetic acid” as if those were different things.

    Unicode’s U+1F70A 🜊, for the record, is Medicinisch-Chymisch’s entry for “acetum, ſ. vinum mortuum,” i.e. not the entry with the Tenth Sphere symbol. Things sort of like U+1F70B 🜋 are listed for “acetum deſtillatum,” distilled vinegar I suppose, but the symbols have a top crossbar, U+1F70B except the vertical part of the cross looks like a T instead of an I, or they have only two of the four dots, two symbols that look like U+1F70B except they have only the bottom two, or the top two, dots, respectively.

Mage Sphere Medicinisch-Chymisch und Alchemistisches Oraculum Unicode
Correspondence symbol
Correspondence
Amalgama U+1F75B 🝛
Entropy symbol
Entropy
Putredo U+1F764 🝤
Forces symbol
Forces¹
Ebullitio
Life symbol
Life
Compoſitio
Matter symbol
Matter
Amalgama U+1F75B 🝛
Life symbol
Mind
Sol, ſ. aurum U+2609 ☉
(“sun”²)
Prime symbol
Prime
Essentia
Spirit symbol
Spirit
Fumus
Time symbol
Time
Puluis U+1F74B 🝋
Tenth Sphere symbol
Tenth sphere
Vinum mortuum U+1F70A 🜊
U+1F70B 🜋
U+1F70C 🜌
(all 3 are “vinegar”³)
  1. The symbol used in Mage for Forces does match up nicely with a fairly common—though not common enough to get Wikipedia or Unicode treatment—alchemical symbol for boiling. It doesn’t, however, match up very well with the Medicinisch-Chymisch symbol for ebullitio, which adds another leg and splits up the crossbars between the two legs.

  2. “Sol” is “the Sun,” and “aurum” is “gold.” The “ſ.” here is a long s (ſ not f), and in particular, it is in Blackletter font, indicating it is German and not Latin. It stands for “ſiehe,” meaning “see,” and has a similar usage in German as “cf.” does in English. So this is basically “Sun, see also gold,” where gold is listed as “Aurum, sol,” or “Gold, Sun.”

    Alchemists heavily associated gold with the Sun and often used the astrological symbol for the sun, U+2609 ☉, to mean gold. Unicode also includes U+1F71A 🜚 as the alchemical symbol for gold, which in some fonts looks rather similar to that for the Sun. Amusingly, Unicode also includes a very similar “see also” note on U+1F71A 🜚, pointing to U+2609 ☉.

    My guess here is that the idea is the “Aurum, sol” entry is for symbols used for both gold and the Sun, while “Sol, ſ. aurum” is for symbols that are used only for the Sun, and don’t mean “gold.” The “ſiehe” is reminding the reader that if they’re looking for symbols for the Sun, they should also consider all the symbols for gold. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide a German translation as he does for so many other entries, most likely because “sol” and “aurum” were rather well-known Latin words, so this is somewhat speculative on my part.

    Also, note that the Wikipedia list associates Mind with solutio, folvere which is a large stretch, and simply wrong considering how close the penultimate “Sol, ſ. aurum” entry is. This may have just been misunderstanding the rather dense table, since “solutio” is immediately after “sol, ſ. aurum” and the entries kind of run into one another (plus the lack of translation on “sol, ſ. aurum” could make it all look like one entry).

  3. Medicinisch-Chymisch is confusing here, as it has separate entries for “acetum ſ. vinum mortuum” and “vinum mortuum, ſ. acetum.” “Acetum” and “vinum mortuum” both mean vinegar—the author even translates both as “Eſſig,” which is German for vinegar—and it’s a mystery why these two entries are different, or why our Tenth Sphere symbol only appears in the latter. If this book’s entries were in English, we’d have “acedic acid, cf. vinegar” and “vinegar, cf. acetic acid” as if those were different things.

    Unicode’s U+1F70A 🜊, for the record, is Medicinisch-Chymisch’s entry for “acetum, ſ. vinum mortuum,” i.e. not the entry with the Tenth Sphere symbol. Things sort of like U+1F70B 🜋 are listed for “acetum deſtillatum,” distilled vinegar I suppose, but the symbols have a top crossbar, U+1F70B except the vertical part of the cross looks like a T instead of an I, or they have only two of the four dots, two symbols that look like U+1F70B except they have only the bottom two, or the top two, dots, respectively.

Mage Sphere Medicinisch-Chymisch und Alchemistisches Oraculum Unicode
Correspondence symbol
Correspondence
Amalgam¹
Amalgama
U+1F75B 🝛
Entropy symbol
Entropy
Rot
Putredo
U+1F764 🝤
Forces symbol
Forces
Boiling²
Ebullitio
Life symbol
Life
Arrangement, combination; agreement, pact; union
Compoſitio
Matter symbol
Matter
Amalgam¹
Amalgama
U+1F75B 🝛
Life symbol
Mind
The Sun, cf. gold³
Sol, ſ. aurum
U+2609 ☉
(“sun”)
Prime symbol
Prime
Essence
Essentia
Spirit symbol
Spirit
Fumes, smoke, steam
Fumus
Time symbol
Time
Dust, powder
Puluis
U+1F74B 🝋
Tenth Sphere symbol
Tenth sphere
Vinegar⁴
Vinum mortuum
U+1F70A 🜊
U+1F70B 🜋
U+1F70C 🜌
  1. What, if any, distinction was found (or imagined) by White Wolf between the two amalgam symbols, used for Correspondence and Matter, is unknown. Medicinisch-Chymisch, at least, makes no such distinction. White Wolf may simply have liked both designs.

  2. The symbol used in Mage for Forces does match up nicely with a fairly common—though not common enough to get Wikipedia or Unicode treatment—alchemical symbol for boiling. It doesn’t, however, match up very well with the Medicinisch-Chymisch symbol for ebullitio, which adds another leg and splits up the crossbars between the two legs.

  3. “Sol” is “the Sun,” and “aurum” is “gold.” The “ſ.” here is a long s (ſ not f), and in particular, it is in Blackletter font, indicating it is German and not Latin. It stands for “ſiehe,” meaning “see,” and has a similar usage in German as “cf.” does in English. So this is basically “Sun, see also gold,” where gold is listed as “Aurum, sol,” or “Gold, Sun.”

    Alchemists heavily associated gold with the Sun and often used the astrological symbol for the sun, U+2609 ☉, to mean gold. Unicode also includes U+1F71A 🜚 as the alchemical symbol for gold, which in some fonts looks rather similar to that for the Sun. Amusingly, Unicode also includes a very similar “see also” note on U+1F71A 🜚, pointing to U+2609 ☉.

    My guess here is that the idea is the “Aurum, sol” entry is for symbols used for both gold and the Sun, while “Sol, ſ. aurum” is for symbols that are used only for the Sun, and don’t mean “gold.” The “ſiehe” is reminding the reader that if they’re looking for symbols for the Sun, they should also consider all the symbols for gold. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide a German translation as he does for so many other entries, most likely because “sol” and “aurum” were rather well-known Latin words, so this is somewhat speculative on my part.

    Also, note that the Wikipedia list associates Mind with solutio, folvere which is a large stretch, and simply wrong considering how close the penultimate “Sol, ſ. aurum” entry is. This may have just been misunderstanding the rather dense table, since “solutio” is immediately after “sol, ſ. aurum” and the entries kind of run into one another (plus the lack of translation on “sol, ſ. aurum” could make it all look like one entry).

  4. Medicinisch-Chymisch is confusing here, as it has separate entries for “acetum ſ. vinum mortuum” and “vinum mortuum, ſ. acetum.” “Acetum” and “vinum mortuum” both mean vinegar—the author even translates both as “Eſſig,” which is German for vinegar—and it’s a mystery why these two entries are different, or why our Tenth Sphere symbol only appears in the latter. If this book’s entries were in English, we’d have “acedic acid, cf. vinegar” and “vinegar, cf. acetic acid” as if those were different things.

    Unicode’s U+1F70A 🜊, for the record, is Medicinisch-Chymisch’s entry for “acetum, ſ. vinum mortuum,” i.e. not the entry with the Tenth Sphere symbol. Things sort of like U+1F70B 🜋 are listed for “acetum deſtillatum,” distilled vinegar I suppose, but the symbols have a top crossbar, U+1F70B except the vertical part of the cross looks like a T instead of an I, or they have only two of the four dots, two symbols that look like U+1F70B except they have only the bottom two, or the top two, dots, respectively.

realized I’d removed my explanation of what “aurum” and “sol” are in my excitement of learning what “ſ.” is
Source Link
KRyan
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  1. The symbol used in Mage for Forces does match up nicely with a fairly common—though not common enough to get Wikipedia or Unicode treatment—alchemical symbol for boiling. It doesn’t, however, match up very well with the Medicinisch-Chymisch symbol for ebullitio, which adds another leg and splits up the crossbars between the two legs.

  2. “Sol” is “the Sun,” and “aurum” is “gold.” The “ſ.” here is a long s (ſ not f), and in particular, it is in Blackletter font, indicating it is German and not Latin. It stands for “ſiehe,” meaning “see,” and has a similar usage in German as “cf.” does in English. So this is basically “Sun, see also gold,” where gold is listed as “Aurum, sol,” or “Gold, Sun.”

    Alchemists heavily associated gold with the Sun and often used the astrological symbol for the sun, U+2609 ☉, to mean gold. Unicode also includes U+1F71A 🜚 as the alchemical symbol for gold, which in some fonts looks rather similar to that for the Sun. Amusingly, Unicode also includes a very similar “see also” note on U+1F71A 🜚, pointing to U+2609 ☉.

    My guess here is that the idea is the “Aurum, sol” entry is for symbols used for both gold and the Sun, while “Sol, ſ. aurum” is for symbols that are used only for the Sun, and don’t mean “gold.” The “ſiehe” is reminding the reader that if they’re looking for symbols for the Sun, they should also consider all the symbols for gold. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide a German translation as he does for so many other entries, most likely because “sol” and “aurum” were rather well-known Latin words, so this is somewhat speculative on my part.

    Also, note that the Wikipedia list associates Mind with solutio, folvere which is a large stretch, and simply wrong considering how close the penultimate “Sol, ſ. aurum” entry is. This may have just been misunderstanding the rather dense table, since “solutio” is immediately after “sol, ſ. aurum” and the entries kind of run into one another (plus the lack of translation on “sol, ſ. aurum” could make it all look like one entry).

  3. Medicinisch-Chymisch is confusing here, as it has separate entries for “acetum ſ. vinum mortuum” and “vinum mortuum, ſ. acetum.” “Acetum” and “vinum mortuum” both mean vinegar—the author even translates both as “Eſſig,” which is German for vinegar—and it’s a mystery why these two entries are different, or why our Tenth Sphere symbol only appears in the latter. If this book’s entries were in English, we’d have “acedic acid, cf. vinegar” and “vinegar, cf. acetic acid” as if those were different things.

    Unicode’s U+1F70A 🜊, for the record, is Medicinisch-Chymisch’s entry for “acetum, ſ. vinum mortuum,” i.e. not the entry with the Tenth Sphere symbol. Things sort of like U+1F70B 🜋 are listed for “acetum deſtillatum,” distilled vinegar I suppose, but the symbols have a top crossbar, U+1F70B except the vertical part of the cross looks like a T instead of an I, or they have only two of the four dots, two symbols that look like U+1F70B except they have only the bottom two, or the top two, dots, respectively.

  1. The symbol used in Mage for Forces does match up nicely with a fairly common—though not common enough to get Wikipedia or Unicode treatment—alchemical symbol for boiling. It doesn’t, however, match up very well with the Medicinisch-Chymisch symbol for ebullitio, which adds another leg and splits up the crossbars between the two legs.

  2. The “ſ.” here is a long s (ſ not f), and in particular, it is in Blackletter font, indicating it is German and not Latin. It stands for “ſiehe,” meaning “see,” and has a similar usage in German as “cf.” does in English. So this is basically “Sun, see also gold.”

    Alchemists heavily associated gold with the Sun and often used the astrological symbol for the sun, U+2609 ☉, to mean gold. Unicode also includes U+1F71A 🜚 as the alchemical symbol for gold, which in some fonts looks rather similar to that for the Sun. Amusingly, Unicode also includes a very similar “see also” note on U+1F71A 🜚, pointing to U+2609 ☉.

    My guess here is that the idea is the “Aurum, sol” entry is for symbols used for both gold and the Sun, while “Sol, ſ. aurum” is for symbols that are used only for the Sun, and don’t mean “gold.” The “ſiehe” is reminding the reader that if they’re looking for symbols for the Sun, they should also consider all the symbols for gold. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide a German translation as he does for so many other entries, most likely because “sol” and “aurum” were rather well-known Latin words, so this is somewhat speculative on my part.

    Also, note that the Wikipedia list associates Mind with solutio, folvere which is a large stretch, and simply wrong considering how close the penultimate “Sol, ſ. aurum” entry is. This may have just been misunderstanding the rather dense table, since “solutio” is immediately after “sol, ſ. aurum” and the entries kind of run into one another (plus the lack of translation on “sol, ſ. aurum” could make it all look like one entry).

  3. Medicinisch-Chymisch is confusing here, as it has separate entries for “acetum ſ. vinum mortuum” and “vinum mortuum, ſ. acetum.” “Acetum” and “vinum mortuum” both mean vinegar—the author even translates both as “Eſſig,” which is German for vinegar—and it’s a mystery why these two entries are different, or why our Tenth Sphere symbol only appears in the latter. If this book’s entries were in English, we’d have “acedic acid, cf. vinegar” and “vinegar, cf. acetic acid” as if those were different things.

    Unicode’s U+1F70A 🜊, for the record, is Medicinisch-Chymisch’s entry for “acetum, ſ. vinum mortuum,” i.e. not the entry with the Tenth Sphere symbol. Things sort of like U+1F70B 🜋 are listed for “acetum deſtillatum,” distilled vinegar I suppose, but the symbols have a top crossbar, U+1F70B except the vertical part of the cross looks like a T instead of an I, or they have only two of the four dots, two symbols that look like U+1F70B except they have only the bottom two, or the top two, dots, respectively.

  1. The symbol used in Mage for Forces does match up nicely with a fairly common—though not common enough to get Wikipedia or Unicode treatment—alchemical symbol for boiling. It doesn’t, however, match up very well with the Medicinisch-Chymisch symbol for ebullitio, which adds another leg and splits up the crossbars between the two legs.

  2. “Sol” is “the Sun,” and “aurum” is “gold.” The “ſ.” here is a long s (ſ not f), and in particular, it is in Blackletter font, indicating it is German and not Latin. It stands for “ſiehe,” meaning “see,” and has a similar usage in German as “cf.” does in English. So this is basically “Sun, see also gold,” where gold is listed as “Aurum, sol,” or “Gold, Sun.”

    Alchemists heavily associated gold with the Sun and often used the astrological symbol for the sun, U+2609 ☉, to mean gold. Unicode also includes U+1F71A 🜚 as the alchemical symbol for gold, which in some fonts looks rather similar to that for the Sun. Amusingly, Unicode also includes a very similar “see also” note on U+1F71A 🜚, pointing to U+2609 ☉.

    My guess here is that the idea is the “Aurum, sol” entry is for symbols used for both gold and the Sun, while “Sol, ſ. aurum” is for symbols that are used only for the Sun, and don’t mean “gold.” The “ſiehe” is reminding the reader that if they’re looking for symbols for the Sun, they should also consider all the symbols for gold. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t provide a German translation as he does for so many other entries, most likely because “sol” and “aurum” were rather well-known Latin words, so this is somewhat speculative on my part.

    Also, note that the Wikipedia list associates Mind with solutio, folvere which is a large stretch, and simply wrong considering how close the penultimate “Sol, ſ. aurum” entry is. This may have just been misunderstanding the rather dense table, since “solutio” is immediately after “sol, ſ. aurum” and the entries kind of run into one another (plus the lack of translation on “sol, ſ. aurum” could make it all look like one entry).

  3. Medicinisch-Chymisch is confusing here, as it has separate entries for “acetum ſ. vinum mortuum” and “vinum mortuum, ſ. acetum.” “Acetum” and “vinum mortuum” both mean vinegar—the author even translates both as “Eſſig,” which is German for vinegar—and it’s a mystery why these two entries are different, or why our Tenth Sphere symbol only appears in the latter. If this book’s entries were in English, we’d have “acedic acid, cf. vinegar” and “vinegar, cf. acetic acid” as if those were different things.

    Unicode’s U+1F70A 🜊, for the record, is Medicinisch-Chymisch’s entry for “acetum, ſ. vinum mortuum,” i.e. not the entry with the Tenth Sphere symbol. Things sort of like U+1F70B 🜋 are listed for “acetum deſtillatum,” distilled vinegar I suppose, but the symbols have a top crossbar, U+1F70B except the vertical part of the cross looks like a T instead of an I, or they have only two of the four dots, two symbols that look like U+1F70B except they have only the bottom two, or the top two, dots, respectively.

incorporating Jason Wodicka’s cross-referencing
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explanation of what ſiehe is doing in the sol entry
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found out what “ſ.” means!
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explaining the Unicode column
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typo in one interation of Medicinisch
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Mage symbols for comparison
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final word on Forces
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correcting Mind
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noting that Forces and Ebullitio don’t match up that well
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better headings
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footnote for dissolve
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removing any implication of doubt that Symbols Signs and Signets is a real book
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removing redundancy in footnote
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about White Wolf’s own sources
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clarifying the footnote, putting unicode offsets in code formatting
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clarifying the notes on dissolve and vinegar
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