7 Famous Symbols You Might Not Know About

Video: 7 Famous Symbols You Might Not Know About

2023 Author: Gordon Kinson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-06-01 01:17

Every day we see and use in communication a huge number of different signs and symbols. But we do not always know their true meaning, not to mention their origin. We propose to deal with some of the most famous symbols, finding out what secrets they hide in themselves.

& Sign

This symbol is a ligature - a sign depicting several letters or syllables. He hails from Ancient Rome, and most likely, Tyrone, Cicero's personal assistant, invented him. It was he who tried to optimize the writing process through the abbreviation system he developed. This symbol is deciphered as the union "and" (et in Latin).

The sign became so widespread in Europe and America that the latter even once included it in its alphabet. Also, the "&" symbol is called an ampersand, which stands for "And per se and". This was the name of the last letter in the same American alphabet. And this phrase is translated as "and by itself the letter" and ".

Heart sign

The well-known image of the heart has little in common with the appearance of a real organ. Little is known about the origin of this symbol, but there are several hypotheses.

First, it is believed that the heart sign is nothing more than an evolved image of "kissing" swans.

Secondly, it is assumed that this symbol was once a sign of the feminine principle. As evidence, they refer to the ritual images of the female pelvis in Antiquity. And in Ancient Greece there was a temple of Aphrodite at all, in which the buttocks were worshiped.

Thirdly, it is believed that the heart sign resembles an ivy leaf for a reason. And again, researchers refer to Ancient Greece, where Dionysus, the patron saint of passion, was depicted with a wreath of ivy leaves.

Bluetooth

The tenth century gave history to Harald Blatand, the king of Denmark, known for his ability to unite scattered Danish tribes into a single kingdom. He also loved blueberries, and therefore received the nickname Bluetooth.

As we remember, Bluetooth is translated from English as "blue tooth". And also, Bluetooth is a technology that allows you to combine several devices into a common network. The logo of this technology is two Scandinavian runes combined into one. These runes correspond to the Latin letters H and B - the first letters of the name of the blue-toothed king of Denmark.

@ Sign

7 famous symbols you probably didn't know about

Before this symbol appeared on computer keyboard layouts, it was used in place of the English preposition at in payment documents. But he had met much earlier. For example, a similar sign was found in a letter from a Florentine merchant who lived in the 16th century. The @ symbol can also be found in Russian books from the 16th-18th centuries. In French, Portuguese and Spanish, this icon means an old measure of weight - arroba (11.502 kg).

After the widespread use of the symbol used as a preposition at, it was given the appropriate name - "commercial at". At the same time, the sign was added to the layout of typewriters, and later to desktop keyboards.

One of the theories of the @ sign evolution:

The @ symbol is known to us as "dog". He received this name either because he originally had a short tail and was vaguely similar to a dog, or because in the old computer game Adventure this sign was used to denote the dog of the protagonist.

Power sign

This symbol is present on almost any device. But not everyone knows what the original meaning of this image is. And the solution is simple: in the middle of the last century, engineers designated 0 and 1 positions of switches "on" and "off". This was later modified to represent a circle and an enclosed vertical line.

A symbol of peace

This is not a pigeon footprint, although there is such a version of the origin of the mark. In fact, everything is much more complicated. The sign, which has the name "Pacific", was created in 1958 specifically for a demonstration against nuclear weapons. The symbol itself is the two semaphore signals N and D brought together, which in this particular case meant "nuclear disarmament" - nuclear disarmament.

OK sign

This sign is understood by most as an expression of approval, but not in all cultures it has such a meaning. For example, in France and Brazil, the “OK” gesture towards a person is offensive. Researchers can only guess about the origin of the expression "O'kay". It is assumed that its direct predecessor could be the phrase "oll korrekt" - distorted from "all correct" (or "everything is in order" in Russian). US President Jackson used it when writing. They also believe that O. K. Is an abbreviation for Old Kinderhook - the city in which US President Martin Van Buren was born. Legend has it that Van Buuren used this acronym as the advertising slogan for his campaign: "Old Kinderhook is OK."