Scutum Sobiescianum

This constellation, Scutum Sobiescianum, Sobieski's Shield, commemorates Sobieski, a king of Poland who was a brilliant military leader, celebrated throughout Europe for his role in repelling the Ottomans from the gates of Vienna in 1683. Pope Innocent XI called for Europe to unite in a Crusade against the Sultan Grand Vizier, Kara Mustafa [1], who along with his 140,000 troops had surrounded Vienna, laying siege to the city. The Turks believed that if they could 'crack' Vienna, the rest of Europe would easily fall into their hands.

"The combined army of Sobieski moved forward in column ... advanced into line and into the sunlight. Dazzling bright sunlight reflected off thousands of pieces of metal and jeweled accoutrements [the shields], and then Sobieski himself with his personal banner advanced to the front of his army... The Turks were thunderstruck!" (Polish Manuscripts, from Internet Modern History Sourcebook).

Sobieski won victory after victory with a much smaller force of 30,000 Polish-Lithuanian, and 11,000 Austrian and Prussian troops, broke the siege of Vienna, and evicted the Ottomans. The battle marked the historic end of the expansion into Europe of the declining Ottoman Empire [1]. Seven years later, Hevelius commemorated these events with the inclusion of Scutum Sobiescianum in the heavens. The cross on the shield should represent this crusade, and the constellation serves as a memorial to a victory that defended Christian Europe from was believed to be an inevitable Islamic take-over.

Urania's Mirror 1825. Scutum, Sobieski's Shield, is the name of this constellation. The word 'shield' is a generic term covering all defensive weapons. The scutum is one particular type of shield and the main type of shield used by the Roman army.

The word Scutum comes from the Indo-European root *skei- 'To cut, split'. Derivatives: shin¹, shinbone (< 'piece cut off'), chine (from Old French eschine, backbone, piece of meat with part of the backbone), science, conscience, consciousness, conscious, nice (from Latin nescire, 'not to know'), conscientious, (from Latin scire, to know < 'to separate one thing from another,' discern), shit (the sense here is of 'separating' excrement from the body), schism, schist, schizo-, (these words from Greek skhizein, to split), scission, exscind, prescind, rescind, (these words from Latin scindere, to split), shed¹ ('give off, drop' shed tears, blood, or skin), sheath (< 'split stick'), ski (snow or water skis, from Old Norse skidh), ecu, escudo (type of coins), escutcheon (a shield), esquire, scutum, squire, (these words from Latin scutum, shield < 'board'), shiver², scute (plates or scales on the shell of a turtle or the underside of a snake), scutellate (covered with shieldlike bony plates or scales), scutage (shield money). [Pokorny skei- 919. Watkins]

Although put under separate roots by Pokorny (Indo-European Etymological Dictionary) some etymologists believe the Indo-European root *skei- 'To cut, split' and *(s)keu- 'To cover, conceal', "is probably related", and believe that scutum is probably related to the words sky and the -scure of obscure: Klein says "-scure from *(s)qeu-, *(s)qewa-, 'to cover', whence also Latin scutum, 'shield'". These words come from the Indo-European root *(s)keu- 'To cover, conceal'. Derivatives: sky (from Old Norse sky 'cloud'), skewbald (having spots or patches of white on a coat of a color other than black: a skewbald horse, 'cloud cover'), skim, meerschaum, scum (< 'that which covers the water'), obscure, hide² (the skin of an animal), cuticle, cutis (the combined term for the epidermis and the dermis, the two outer layers of the skin. Underneath is the subcutis), cutin (from Latin cutis skin), recoil (from Latin culus, the rump, backside), funiculus (diminutive of funis, rope, a little cord of nerve fibers), -cyte (cell: leukocyte, Greek kytos or Greek kutos), cyto- (all cells have a cytoplasm, the part of the cell outside the nucleus, compared to the white of an egg. It is in the cytoplasm that the information in DNA is used to form proteins, from Greek kutos, a hollow, vessel), hose, hoard, custody, custodian, (these words from Latin custos, guard), cunnilingus (from Latin cunnus, vulva < 'sheath'), hide¹ (to hide, cover up), hut, huddle. [Pokorny 2. (s)keu- 951. Watkins] Klein believes that the word house also comes from this root. The Beluga sturgeon is Huso huso, Sturgeon species are noted for having five rows of bony scutes.

The skin (outerlayers; cutis, and the hide of animals) shields the body and is likened to the walls of a house (or hut).

"Like the walls of a house the skin provides the outermost physical protective barrier. ... the skin can stop invasion by disease causing microbes. Its crucial role is seen in severe burn injuries, which are almost always fatal because it is impossible to stop bacterial infection without the outer skin layers. Our skin provides protection. It acts as a buffer to bumps and bashes that can damage internal organs. It prevents microbes from entering the body, and shields our insides from the Sun's potentially harmful ultraviolet rays" [How we Work, p.81].

It seems that the word scutum is related to skin, hide (or leather), the common notion being of a covering, a protection, or shield. Cutis is the combined term for the epidermis and the dermis, the two outer layers of the skin. The epidermis is shed (from *skei-) continually throughout life. Klein says "Latin scutum, 'shield', probably for *sqeutom, and literally meaning 'a covering shield', from Indo-European base *(s)qeu-t-, 'to cover', whence also Greek kutos, 'skin, cover', skutos, 'leather', Old English hyd, 'skin'". In Roman times the scutum was made of plywood covered with leather (skin or hide) [1]. Zeus created his thunder-shield (aigis) from the hide of the goat Amalthea, and then gave it to Athena. It was also said that Athena flayed the skin of the giant Pallas (2), whom she had defeated in battle, for a shield.

The Romans used their shields to create a tortoise-like formation called a testudo in which entire groups of soldiers would be enclosed in an armored box to provide protection against missiles. The Latin word testudo (Testudo was a name for adjacent Lyra) is given to the ancient Roman protective shelter formed by soldiers with shields overlapping above their heads when attacking a fort.

The root of scutum is related to the word sky (according to Klein and others). There is a relationship in mythology with the sky and shields. Varro says that Ennius called the heavens the caeli clipeus, "the shield of the sky". (According to Allen in Star Names, Scutum was known as Clypeus Sobieskii, more correctly written Clipeus).

"Agamemnon says, 'In the shield of the sky, that soundeth on high, for a shield is a hollow thing...'". [Varro: On The Latin Language, p.331.]

Our word 'sky' is seen etymologically in terms of cloud, from an old Norse word for cloud sky, and Old Saxon skio, 'cloud'. English seems to be unique in this substitution of cloud for the heavens, perhaps the notion being that clouds shield the earth from the Sun. A well-polished shield was seen to have the reflective properties of a mirror, and also the sky is reflected in the sea. The word sky is related to Gothic skuggwa 'mirror'. These meanings suggest a daylight sky in which clouds and reflections can be seen. The common Latin term for sky was caelus from Caelum (another constellation) from which we get our word 'celestial'.

The word consciousness, the state or condition of being conscious, comes from the same root as Scutum, from the Latin verb scire, 'to know' or 'to be conscious of'. "Buddhists call the state of consciousness 'mirror-like awareness': The self is completely transparent to itself, can see and be itself fully, just like looking in the mirror" [2]. Perseus, who carries the Gorgon Medusa's severed head, was not able to look at the dreaded Medusa directly where to gaze upon the monster was to be turned to stone — but he was able to see her form reflected in a shield of polished bronze, thereby avoiding her gaze [3]. Perseus later gave Medusa's severed head to Athena, who placed it in the center of her shield, the Aegis; the boss or umba is the middle part of a shield. A polished shield will also reflect the opponent's image back to himself.

© Anne Wright 2008.