What Signs are Included?
Embracing all of the World's symbology would be too big a task for any semiotician. Symbols.com deals with mainly Western signs that are non-pictorial. Continue reading for an explanation of the terms.
The word symbol is derived from the Greek word symbolon. In ancient Greece it was a custom to break a slate of burned clay into several pieces and distribute them within the group. When the group reunited the pieces were fitted together (Greek symbollein). This confirmed the members belonging to the group.
An ideogram is a special type of symbol, a graphic sign for an idea or concept. For instance, the graph represents the G-clef in musical notation and the switch for treble range on sound reproducing appliances. It is therefore an ideogram.
Alphabetic letters are not considered ideograms proper in this work. But as the first letter in the alphabet A not only is a sign for a specific sound, but also denotes the idea of something that comes first. Consider expressions like "A grade" and "A-team". A may therefore be regarded as a sign.
A sign is called iconic if it has some perceivable likeness to what it denotes. In the opposite case, it is called aniconic.
However, whether iconic or aniconic, graphical symbols and signs that are not pictures of easily recognized objects are called non-pictorial. These non-pictorial symbols and signs are the subject matter of Symbols.com.
Go explore some of the 2,500 signs included in Symbols.com!