Vegvísir
An eight-armed Icelandic magical stave. Despite being marketed everywhere as "the Viking compass", its earliest known appearance is in an Icelandic manuscript from 1860.
The drawing above shows one form of the symbol. Historical examples vary (sometimes considerably), and no single version should be treated as canonical.
Earliest attestation: 1860
The oldest surviving appearance we can actually point to.
The vegvísir first appears in the Huld Manuscript (ÍB 383 4to), compiled by Geir Vigfússon in Akureyri in 1860, with related versions in a small number of other 19th-century Icelandic manuscripts. There is no Viking-Age, medieval or even early-modern attestation.
Historical use
It belongs to the Icelandic galdrastafir tradition: magical staves recorded in grimoires from roughly the 17th century onward, several centuries after Iceland converted to Christianity. The Huld Manuscript accompanies the design with a note that whoever carries it will not lose their way in bad weather. That is the whole of the historical evidence.
Modern use
Now one of the most-tattooed Norse-adjacent designs in the world, sold almost everywhere as a Viking navigational symbol: a description the 1860 manuscript contradicts on both halves, since it is neither Viking-Age nor about navigation. Its spread through Icelandic music and Norse-themed television across the 2000s and 2010s is visible in the market rather than established in any study, so read that timeline as an observation.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this symbol that circulate widely and do not hold up.
The vegvísir is not a Viking symbol. Roughly 800 years separate the end of the Viking Age from its first recorded appearance.
It is not a compass and was never used for navigation. The Huld Manuscript describes it as a charm against getting lost, which is a different claim.
The vegvísir has no connection to runes. Its arms are stave-shapes from a much later magical tradition, not runic letters.
Sources
Full references on the sources page.