Study Association T.W.I.S.T. has its own logo, flag, coat of arms, and anthem. All of these will be explained below.
Logo
T.W.I.S.T.’s logo is the golden Apple of Discord, as depicted above. The Apple of Discord originates in Greek mythology. The goddess Eris hijacks a wedding party by tossing an apple in the midst of the festivities, made of pure gold and inscribed with the text τῇ καλλίστῃ (tēi kallistēi, ᴅᴇꜰ.ꜰ.ꜱɢ.ᴅᴀᴛ beautiful.ꜱᴜᴘʟ.ꜰ.ꜱɢ.ᴅᴀᴛ, ‘for the most beautiful’). Three goddesses have a fight (also called a ‘twist’ in Dutch) over who has the right to receive the apple and be called ‘the most beautiful’. Eventually, it is decided that Paris may choose who will receive the apple. All of the goddesses offer him something in return, but Paris chooses Aphrodite, who promises him the most beautiful woman on Earth. Aphrodite receives the apple, and in return, Paris receives Helena’s hand in marriage. This is the start of the Trojan war, the war over Helena.
The golden apple from this myth has found its way into the Dutch language as the ‘twistappel’, which means: ‘a subject or matter over which disagreement exists’. In this association, however, the apple does not bring any disagreement. Instead, it symbolises the connection between its members.
Flag
In 2024, the T.W.I.S.T. flag recieved a revamp. In the centre the golden apple – symbol of the association itself – lays surrounded by white. On the edges of the flag, the two colour fields serve as a double-coding, highlighting our place in Leiden university, as well as calling back to the mythical goddesses involved in the feud over the golden apple that inspired the T.W.I.S.T logo in the first place: (olive)green for Athena, (pearl)white for Aphrodite and (peacock)blue for Hera. Additionally, the coloured fields cut out the white in the shape of a wug, the unofficial mascot of the field of linguistics. The flag was designed by the PromoCie committee of 2023-2024.
Legacy Flag
The first T.W.I.S.T. flag was conceptualized during the reign of board Jan (2015-2016). It was designed by Jur Timmerman. The four different sections of the flag symbolize the (at the time) four tracks of our study programme, Linguistics. Within the association, all four of these tracks are united as one. The golden apple, depicted in the middle of the flag, symbolizes the association.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of T.W.I.S.T. is a shield that consists of five different sections. Next to the T.W.I.S.T. apple – depicted in the smaller, central shield – there is a section dedicated to the symbol of Leiden, and three sections dedicated to each of the study programmes T.W.I.S.T. used to represent. The study programme Languages and Cultures of Africa is represented by an African shield, depicted on top of the three Panafrican colours. General Linguistics is represented by the IPA symbol which roughly depicts the sound of a wildebeest. Lastly, Comparative Indo-European Linguistics is represented by two sun wheels and two horses.
The motto Linguistica Est is the Latin translation of Taalwetenschap is ‘t! (Linguistics is it!), the association’s slogan, of which T.W.I.S.T. is the acronym.
Coat of Arms ⊙
The current board, ⊙, has its own Coat of Arms to represent it. In the top left and bottom right corners of the shield are two and three instances of the board symbol (a stylized version of the board name that represents an apple sliced horizontally with 5 points, one for each board member) respectively, showcasing this is the 23rd board of T.W.I.S.T.. The Rubin vase in the left corner represents linguistic relativity, which connects to the open-ended pronounciation of the board name. The flower in the top right represents the secret sixth board member. Surrounding the shield are five animals, which is both the number of board members as well as representative of each of the five animal catagories in Toki Pona.
Anthem
T.W.I.S.T.’s Dutch anthem, written by Alain Corbeau, can be found and listened to below.
Based on the work of the Coat of Arms Committee (Jorik Groen & Rob Verhoeven 2010-2011), as edited by Mare van Welzenis (2018), Marit Postma (2019), and Tess Huijting (2021).