Sigismund

Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, 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). The Polish spelling is Zygmunt.

Sigismund was the name of several European nobles:

• Saint Sigismund of Burgundy (died 523), King of the Burgundians
• Sigismund of Hungary, Sigismund of Luxembourg (1368–1437), King of Hungary, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia
• 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 fictional characters:

• Segismundo, main character of Calderón de la Barca's La vida es sueño.
• Segismundo, 21st century hero of the dramatic novel "United States of Banana" by Giannina Braschi, based on Calderón de la Barca's Life is a Dream.
• Sigismund, a character from the Warhammer 40,000 game series, First Captain of the Imperial Fists Legion and later founder and first High Marshall of the Black Templars Chapter
• 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 (given name) for people named Sigmund or Siegmund