Chevron (insigne)

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A chevron (also spelled cheveron, especially in older documents) is a V-shaped pattern. The word is usually used in reference to a kind of fret in architecture, or to a badge or insignia used in military or police uniforms to indicate rank or length of service, or in heraldry and the designs of flags (see flag terminology).

Contents 1 Heraldry 1.1 Origin 1.2 Gallery 2 Freemasonic relation 3 Rank insignia 3.1 Examples 3.2 Other uses as insignia 4 Punctuation 5 Road markings 6 Other usages 6.1 Corporate logos 6.2 Geology 6.3 Sports team colours 7 References

Heraldry

A Chevron in Hearaldy mean: protection; Builders or others who have accomplished some work of faithful^[1]. When shown as a smaller size than standard, it is a diminutive called a chevronel.

Origin

The origin seems to be the shape of the rafters of a building. A thesis presented in The Inevitable Dossier is that the heraldic use of the chevron derives from a Church in Vehkalahti today's south-eastern Finland in the late 14th century. The thesis point out the church as the main hub for European relations, acting in secrecy due to the threat of the Roman Catholic Power - a success that initiated the early Protestant movement and also made the chevron a well known symbol. The design itself seems to be related to the design of the church an especially the roof. In Swedish heraldics the Chevron is called "Sparre" and family names such as Sparre av Aspnäs were common among knights of the Middle Ages. A well known and powerful knight who used the early chevron in his arms was Arvid Gustavsson Sparre.

• This URL, in Swedish (English Summery), is a private research page, which contain many years of demanding work of mapping the origins of the Vehkalahti families, which many of them had the early Chevron in their coat of arms.

Gallery

Bolligen is a municipality in the Bern administrative district of the canton of Bern, Switzerland.

The flag of the North American Vexillological Association.

Freemasonic relation

There are similairities with the original Phoenician letter G, the Gimel, meaning Camel and which in Hebrew is the sign of Reward and Punishment that imply that: man is free to choose between good and evil^[2] and which may be related with the Freemason logo's mixture of both G and chevrons as well as the often used symbolism of black and white.

Rank insignia

In British Military usage, the idea of using chevrons to denote rank came from whereabouts NCOs were placed in the line in infantry units. In Napoleonic times, units would form up in large, uniform blocks. Lance Corporals (and equivalents) would have marked the corner of a fire team, Corporals the corner of a squad, and Sergeants the corner of a Platoon. This led to the stylised drawing of different numbers of right angles on the sleeves, to denote corners. Over time these turned into the stylised chevrons worn today.

In areas observing Commonwealth of Nations or United States doctrine, chevrons are used as an insignia of enlisted or NCO rank by land military forces and by police. One chevron usually designates a private, two a corporal, and three a sergeant. One to four "rockers" may be also be incorporated to indicate various grades of sergeant. In American usage, chevrons typically point up, or on shoulderboards towards the neck; in Commonwealth usage (and in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force), they usually point down, or on shoulderboards away from the neck.

In the Commonwealth, the correct terminology for rank chevrons includes the number of stripes, called "bars", therefore, the image on the right hand side is properly termed a "3-bar chevron". A 1-bar chevron indicates a Private in the Canadian Army or Lance Corporal in other Commonwealth armies, a 2-bar chevron indicates a Corporal, and a 3-bar chevron a Sergeant. Canadian Forces often refer to chevrons as "hooks."

Examples

Single Chevron-Rank: Private E2, US Army.

Double Chevron-Rank: Corporal E4, US Army.

Sergeant, British Army and Royal Marines.

NATO Code OR-4 Specialist/Petty Officer 3

Other uses as insignia

Small chevrons are part of the insignia to indicate length of time serving in some armies. They are worn on the lower left sleeve.

Punctuation

As a part of punctuation, chevrons (also known as guillemets or angle quotes) usually act as quotation marks, particularly in Spanish and French. Examples would be ‹single quotes› and «double quotes». In German they are used as well, but in inverted form: ›single quotes‹ and »double quotes«. Chevrons are also used in Chinese punctuation, often to enclose the titles of books: ︿ and ﹀ or ︽ and ︾ for traditional vertical printing, and 〈 and 〉 or 《 and 》 for horizontal printing.

Road markings

They are also used as road markings in some stretches of British and Canadian motorways, to help drivers gauge the distance to the car in front, and also on signs on sharp corners in order to denote the tightness of the bend.

Other usages

Corporate logos

The French automobile firm Citroën uses a logo commonly referred to as a pair of chevrons, though it originates in the shape of the teeth of special type of gears which that firm made prior to its entering the car business.

The British television company Yorkshire Television used a Y-shaped symbol known as "the chevron" as its logo, from when its broadcasts began in July 1968 until the company was absorbed into the newly-formed ITV plc in February 2004.

The Chevron Corporation's logo is a pair of chevrons, one blue and one red.

Pony International, an American apparel and shoe company, adorns most of its shoes with a chevron, its logo.

In the Microsoft Windows operating system, the name "chevron" is used for a menu that contains the toolbar icons which do not fit in the space available on the toolbar.

In the Stargate science fiction universe, the outer ring of the Stargate device feature nine chevrons. In normal use, seven chevrons lock in to place as a destination Stargate is dialed.

Boeing calls some of its afterburner jets "variable-geometry chevrons".

Geology

The term chevron has been used to refer to a geologic feature found in coastal regions all over the world. According to an article in The New York Times, chevron is a "enormous wedge-shaped sediment deposit," possibly created by an enormous tsunami after an asteroid impact. However, this idea is very controversial; many scientists believe these features are generated by wind. Similar features, called parabolic dunes, are found on the interior of continents, where they could not be explained by tsunamis. Also, tsunamis usually leave thin sheet-like deposits of sand that do not have the distinct chevron shape.

Sports team colours

The chevron design, with the point downwards, is a popular design for team kits in the sport of rugby league. The World Champions, Australia, feature a gold chevron on a green background.

The team colours of the 2007 World Club Champions, St Helens RFC, are a red chevron on a white shirt.

References

de:Chevron (Uniform)

no:Sparre

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