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. There appears to be 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, and the Croatian variant is Žigmund.

Sigismund was the name of various European rulers:

• Saint Sigismund of Burgundy (died 523), King of the Burgundians
• Sigismund I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (died 1405)
• Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368–1437), also King of Hungary and King of Bohemia
• Sigismund Kęstutaitis (c. 1365–1440), Grand Duke of Lithuania
• Sigismund Korybut (c. 1395-c. 1435), Lithuanian duke who participated in Hussite Wars
• Sigismund II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (died after 22 May 1452)
• Sigismund, Archduke of Austria (1427–1496), ruler of Further Austria
• Sigismund of Bavaria (1439–1501), Duke of Bavaria
• Sigismund I the Old (1467–1548), King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania
• Sigismund von Herberstein (1486–1566), Carniolan diplomat, writer, historian and member of the Holy Roman Empire Imperial Council
• Sigismund II Augustus (1520–1572), King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania
• Sigismund of Brandenburg (1538–1566), Prince-Archbishop of Magdeburg and Administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Halberstadt
• Sigismund Rákóczi (died 1608), briefly Prince of Transylvania
• Sigismund III Vasa (1566–1632), King of Sweden (as Sigismund) and Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania
• Sigismund Báthory (1572–1613), Prince of Transylvania
• Sigismund Francis of Austria (1630–1665), ruler of Further Austria
• Prince Sigismund of Prussia (1864-1866)
• Prince Sigismund of Prussia (1896–1978)
• Ishak Bey Kraloğlu or Sigismund of Bosnia (born sometime in the 1450s?), son of King Stephen Thomas of Bosnia
• Archduke Sigismund, Grand Duke of Tuscany (born 1966)

Others named Sigismund include:

• Sigismund Albicus (c. 1360–1427), Roman Catholic Archbishop of Prague
• Sigismund Bachrich (1841–1913), Hungarian composer, violinist and violist
• Sigismund Payne Best (1885–1978), British secret agent during the First and Second World Wars
• Sigismund von Braun (1911–1998), German diplomat and Secretary of State
• Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), Austrian founder of psychoanalysis born Sigismund Schlomo Freud
• Sigismund Gelenius (1497–1554), eminent Greek scholar and humanist
• Sigismund von Götzen (1576–1650), German diplomat and politician
• Sigismund Ernst Hohenwart (1745–1825), Bishop of Linz
• Sigismund Koelle (1820–1902), German missionary and pioneer scholar of African languages
• Sigismund Ernst Richard Krone (1861–1917), German naturalist, zoologist, spelunker, archaeologist and researcher
• Sigismund von Neukomm (1778–1858), Austrian composer and pianist
• Sigismund Felix Freiherr von Ow-Felldorf (1855–1936), Bishop of Passau
• Sigismund von Reitzenstein (1766–1847), first minister of state of the Grand Duchy of Baden
• Sigismund von Schlichting (1829–1909), Prussian general and military theorist
• Sigismund von Schrattenbach (1698–1771), Archbishop of Salzburg
• Sigismund Streit (1687–1775), German merchant and art patron in Venice
• Sigismund Zaremba (1861–1915), Ukrainian and Russian composer
• Sigismund Zinzan, an equerry to Queen Elizabeth I of England

Sigismund 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
• 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

Other things named Sigismund:

• Sigismund Bell, a famous bell in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, cast in 1520

See also

• Sigmund (given name) for people named Sigmund or Siegmund
• Sig (given name)