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Information about Symbols

This article presents the essential definitions. For links to more complete treatments of specialized meanings, see Symbol (disambiguation).
The musical instrument is spelled cymbal.
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Religious symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, or other concrete representations of ideas, concepts, or other abstractions. For example, in the United States, Canada and Great Britain, a red octagon is a symbol for the traffic sign meaning "STOP".

Common examples of symbols are the symbols used on maps to denote places of interest, such as crossed sabers to indicate a battlefield, and the numerals used to represent numbers. Common psychological symbols are the use of a gun to represent a penis or a tunnel to represent a vagina. [1] See: phallic symbol and yonic symbol.

All language is made up of symbols. The word "cat", whether spoken or written, is not a cat, but is a symbol for a cat.

Etymology

The word "symbol" came to the English language by way of Middle English, from Old French, from Latin, from the Greek σύμβολον (sımbolon) from the root words συν- (syn-) meaning "together" and βολή (bolē) "a throw", having the approximate meaning of "to throw together", literally a "co-incidence" (), also "sign, ticket, or contract". The earliest attestation of the term is in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes where Hermes on seeing the tortoise exclaims συμβολον ηδη μοι "symbolon [symbol/sign/portent/encounter/chance find?] of joy to me!" before turning it into a lyre.

The symbolate

A technical term for an object that serves as a symbol is a symbolate. For example, a scepter[1] is a symbol of royal power. In addition to being a symbol, a scepter is also an object which can be picked up and wielded, and which only fulfills its symbolic purpose when it is wielded by a monarch.

Objects have physical properties; a scepter is essentially a rod with ornamentation. A rod only becomes a scepter when the people viewing the rod accept it as a scepter.

An alien from outer space might describe a royal audience as follows: A human homo sapiens wrapped in fibers reflecting light at the high end of the visible frequency range moved an ornamented rod against gravity, at which time other individuals ceased emitting complex sound waves. A human would say that the monarch dressed in a purple robe waved the scepter to silence the crowd.

What is the difference between these two meanings? Leslie White approached the question in an effort to define cultural objects, such as a law, a constitution, a marriage ceremony. All the nouns in the paragraph above are cultural objects: the monarch, the robe, the scepter, the language, and the subjects.

The essence of a cultural object is that it is a token in the process of symbolization. White defined the symbolate as the object created by the act of symbolization, just as an isolate is created by the act of isolation. The scepter stands for royal power, but before this act of symbolization it did not exist as a symbolate, but only as a rod. The scepter was created by its use as a symbol. We are conscious of the symbol, but not of the symbolate.

Symbolates are real objects. The act of symbolization endows the rod with a power it did not possess previously. Ordinary rods have no effect on audiences, but scepters do. However, the power does not reside only in the scepter. Its location is diffuse, some in the people, some in the king, some in the audience. Humanity lives in a world of diffuse powers and possibilities and creates symbolates to communicate with or to manipulate other people.

See also

References

Notes

1. ^ David G. Myers, Psychology, Worth Publishers; 7th edition (June 6, 2004) ISBN 0716752514 ISBN-13 978-0716752516, p. 282

Other references

  • Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged, W.A. Neilson, T.A. Knott, P.W. Carhart (eds.), G. & C. Merriam Company, Springfield, MA, 1950.
Symbols are objects, characters, or other concrete representations of ideas, concepts, or other abstractions.

Symbol may also refer to:
  • Symbol (data), the smallest amount of data transmitted at a time in digital communications

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Cymbals (Fr. cymbales; Ger. Becken; Ital. piatti or cinelli; Por. pratos), are a modern percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various cymbal alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their
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In geometry, an octagon is a polygon that has eight sides. Regular octagon is represented by Schläfli symbol .

Regular octagons



A regular octagon is an octagon whose sides are all the same length and whose internal angles are all the same size.
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numeral system (or system of numeration) is a framework where a set of numbers are represented by numerals in a consistent manner. It can be seen as the context that allows the numeral "11" to be interpreted as the binary numeral for three
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number is an abstract idea used in counting and measuring. A symbol which represents a number is called a numeral, but in common usage the word number is used for both the idea and the symbol.
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For the symbol of the erect penis, see phallus.
The penis (plural penises, penes) is an external sexual organ of certain biologically male organisms.
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The vagina, (from Latin, literally "sheath" or "scabbard" ) is the tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles.
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phallus can refer to an erect penis, to a penis-shaped object such as a dildo, or to a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic
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English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
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Middle English}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: enm
ISO 639-3: enm

Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman invasion of 1066
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Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories corresponding roughly to the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300.
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Latin}}} 
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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Greek}}} 
Writing system: Greek alphabet 
Official status
Official language of:  Greece
 Cyprus
 European Union
recognised as minority language in parts of:
 European Union
 Italy
 Turkey
Regulated by:
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The thirty-three anonymous Homeric Hymns celebrating individual gods are a collection of ancient Greek hymns, "Homeric" in the sense that they employ the same dactylic hexameter as the Iliad and Odyssey and are couched in the same dialect.
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Hermes (Greek, Ἑρμῆς, IPA: /ˈhɝmiːz/), in Greek mythology, is the Olympian god of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and
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Testudinidae

Genera

Chersina
Cylindraspis (extinct)
Dipsochelys
Geochelone
Gopherus
Homopus
Indotestudo
Kinixys
Malacochersus
Manouria

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lyre is a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in Classical Antiquity and later. The recitations of the Ancient Greeks were accompanied by lyre playing. The lyre of Classical Antiquity was ordinarily played by being strummed with a plectrum, like a guitar or a zither,
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monarch (see sovereignty) is a type of ruler or head of state. Monarchs almost always inherit their titles and are rulers for life; that is, they have no term limit. Historically monarchs have been more or less absolute rulers.
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Leslie Alvin White (19 January 1900, Salida, Colorado – 31 March 1975, Lone Pine, California) was an American anthropologist known for his advocacy of theories of cultural evolution, social evolutionism and especially neoevolutionism, and his role in creating the department
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Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate,") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significant importance.
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Isolate may refer to:
  • the band ISOLATE, A metal band from CA. Currently working own their new album "From Failure" coming winter 2007. Isolate's web site
  • a language isolate
  • an isolated monkey in the Pit of despair experiment.

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In the history of science, alchemy (Arabic: الخيمياء, al-khimia) refers to both an early form of the investigation of nature and an early philosophical and spiritual discipline, both combining elements of chemistry,
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Applied Drama is an umbrella term for the wider use of drama practice in a specific social context and environment. This practice doesn't have to take place in a conventional theatre space.
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Asemic writing is a wordless open semantic form of writing. The word asemic means “having no specific semantic content”.

Illegible, invented, or primal scripts (cave paintings, doodles, children’s drawings, etc.
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A tick (known as a checkmark or check in American English) is a mark (✓) () used to indicate the concept "yes", for example "yes, this has been verified" or "yes, I agree".
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computer icon is a small pictogram. Icons have been used to supplement the normal alphanumerics of the computer. Modern computers now can handle bitmapped graphics on the display terminal, so the icons are widely used to assist users.
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A dramatic symbol is a prop, gesture, movement, or articulation in a theatrical or dramatic context that carries distinct symbolic meaning and adds to the complexity of a theatrical work or play.
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emblem is a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept — e.g., a moral truth, or an allegory — or that represents a person, such as a king or saint.
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