Sigismund

Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegmund Siegmund] ) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German "sigu" "victory" + "munt" "hand, protection". Tacitus Latinises it "Segimundus". It looks like there is an older form of the High German word "Sieg" (victory): "sigis", obviously Gothic and an inferred Germanic form, and there is a younger form: "sigi", which is Old Saxon or Old High German "sigu" (both from about 9th century). A 5th century Prince of Burgundy was known both as "Sigismund" and "Sigimund" (see Ernst Förstemann, Altdeutsche Personennamen, 1906; Henning Kaufmann, Altdeutsche Personennamen, Ergänzungsband,1968).

A Lithuanian name Žygimantas, meaning "wealth of (military) campaign", from Lithuanian "žygis" "campaign, march" + "manta" "goods, wealth" has been a substitution of the name "Sigismund" in the Lithuanian language, from which it was adopted by the Ruthenian language as Жыгімонт (such are the cases of Sigismund Kestutaitis, Sigismund Korybut, Sigismund I the Old, Sigismund II Augustus).

Sigismund was the name of several European nobles:

* Saint Sigismund of Burgundy (died 523), King of the Burgundians
* Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368–1437), Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Hungary
* Sigismund Kestutaitis (c.1350–1440), Grand Duke of Lithuania
* Sigismund Korybut (c.1395-c.1435), Lithuanian Duke, participated in Hussite Wars
* Sigismund, Archduke of Austria (1427–1496), ruler of Further Austria
* Archduke Sigismund Francis of Austria (1630-1665), ruler of Further Austria
* Sigismund of Bavaria (1439–1501), a Duke of Bavaria
* Sigismund I the Old (1467–1548), King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania
* Sigismund II Augustus (1520–1572), King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania
* Sigismund III Vasa (1566–1632), King of Sweden (as Sigismund) and Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania
* Sigismund Báthory (1572–1613), Prince of Transylvania
* Prince Sigismund of Prussia (1864-1866), the fourth child of Friedrich III, German Emperor and Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom

Sigismund/Siegmund may also refer to:

* Brother Sigismund of the Black Templars, founder of the Black Templars
* Sigismund (bell), a famous bell in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, cast in 1520
* Siegmund, a focal character in Richard Wagner's "Die Walküre"
* "Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein", fictional King of Bohemia in "A Scandal in Bohemia" (Sherlock Holmes adventure)
* Sigismund the mad maths teacher, a character in the Nigel Molesworth school stories

See also

* Sigmund (disambiguation)