Talk:pentagram

I've just updated this entry to differentiate it from other types of five-pointed star. A pentagram is specifically a unicursal star, composed of five straight lines such that the parts of the lines that fall inside the figure describe an internal pentagon. This entry has been given as evidence for a debate going on a Wikipedia regarding whether any five-pointed star is a pentagon or not. Regardless of the fact that Wiktionary does not meet the standards of a "reliable source" to be used as supporting evidence in such a debate, I thought it was appropriate to correct this entry anyway.

I also notice that pentacle is given as a synonym, which is a common but incorrect usage. The two words have quite different derivations, pentacle coming from the latin; and a pentacle is a talisman used for magical evocation that can be marked with a wide variety of figures, such as magic squares, names or god, etc., or sometimes a pentagram. In association with Tarot, a pentacle is often displayed as a disk (like a coin) inscribed with a pentagram. This, and the similarity between the words, has resulted in their incorrectly being conflated. This is discussed in more detail by me in the Wikipedia talk pages for the Pentagram and Pentacle articles. Fuzzypeg 03:20, 12 July 2006 (UTC)