Wolfsangel different from rune
Names and symbols
Other German names include Wolfsanker ("wolf anchor", the crescent-shaped bar holding the hook), Wolfshaken ("wolf hook"), and Doppelhaken ("double hook"); French names include hameçon ("fish hook"), hameçon de loup ("fish hook for wolves") and fer-a-loup ("wolf iron"), as well as crampon ("iron hook").The stylised version of the Z-shaped Wolfsangel developed into a popular medieval symbol in Germany that was associated with magical powers, and was believed to have the ability to ward off wolves. The symbol appears on early medieval banners and town seals in Germany (particularly in forested regions where wolves were present in large numbers); for example, as early as 1299 the symbol can be found on seals relating to the Lords of the German Black Forest town of Wolfach (see opposite, the seal of the widow Countess Udilhild von Fürstenberg, the sole heiress of the Lords of Wolfach); and their Wolfsangel banner eventually became the municipal coat of arms for the town (see opposite). The symbol can be found as a medieval mason's mark.The stylized Wolfsangel Z-symbol (i.e. excluding the horizontal bar) bears a visual resemblance to the proto-Germanic Eihwaz rune (meaning "yew"), historically part of the ancient runic alphabet.  However, the full Wolfsangel Ƶ-symbol has no equivalent amongst ancient runic systems but is sometimes confused as such due to its similarity to the "gibor rune", the eighteenth pseudo rune that was created by the nineteenth-century German revivalist Guido von List as part of his Armanen runes.