Almost everyone knows “tooth” from the Bluetooth symbol. Its appearance is not accidental
There are interesting stories behind the various signs that accompany us every day. Mattia Peretti recalled this case on Twitter.
The bluetooth symbol is known, among others, from phones – a characteristic icon shows that the smartphone has this type of wireless communication enabled. It also appears on many devices, most often in a simple configuration: a characteristic white “tooth” on a blue background.
What does the bluetooth sign mean? The history goes back a thousand years
Mattia Peretti, working for a think tank at The London School of Economics & Political Science, drew attention on Twitter to the history behind this appearance of the sign. As it turns out, it is not accidental and has its roots in the history of Scandinavian countries.
The Bluetooth sign consists of two Scandinavian runes, which represented the initials: H and B. After putting them together, a characteristic “tooth” was created. However, the initials “H” and “B” themselves are the initials of King Harald I Bluetooth (Bluetooth), who was first the king of Denmark and later also of Norway. This ruler led to the unification of the Scandinavian states. Bluetooth is also the first Christian ruler of Denmark, who was baptized around 965.
It was the unification of the Scandinavian countries that contributed to the use of the initials of Harald Bluetooth (H – Harald, and the mentioned B stands for the first letter of the king's nickname, i.e. Blåtand) in the Bluetooth sign. As stated, bluetooth was intended to help simplify communication between different devices, and so, like Harald, it led to a form of “unification”.
