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{{Short description|Allusional device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words}}
[[File:Rebus escort card.jpg|thumb|A rebus-style "escort card" from around 1865, to be read as "May I see you home my dear?"]]
[[File:Arolsen Klebeband 18 041 3.JPG|thumb|A German rebus, circa 1620]]

A '''rebus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|iː|b|ə|s}} {{respell|REE|bəss}}) is a [[Puzzle|puzzle]] device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+) and the letter "n". It was a favourite form of heraldic expression used in the [[History:Middle Ages|Middle Ages]] to denote surnames.

For example, in its basic form, three salmon (fish) are used to denote the surname "Salmon". A more sophisticated example was the rebus of Bishop Walter Lyhart (d. 1472) of Norwich, consisting of a stag (or [[Biology:Deer|hart]]) lying down in a conventional representation of water.

The composition alludes to the name, profession or personal characteristics of the bearer, and speaks to the beholder ''Non verbis, sed rebus'', which [[Social:Latin|Latin]] expression signifies "not by words but by things"<ref>Boutell, Charles, ''Heraldry Historical & Popular'', London, 1863, pp. 117–120</ref> (''res, rei'' (f), a thing, object, matter; ''rebus'' being ablative plural).<ref>''Cassell's Latin Dictionary'', ed. Marchant & Charles</ref>

==Rebuses within heraldry==
Rebuses are used extensively as a form of heraldic expression as a hint to the name of the bearer; they are not synonymous with canting arms. A man might have a rebus as a personal identification device entirely separate from his armorials, canting or otherwise. For example, Sir Richard Weston (d. 1541) bore as arms: ''Ermine, on a chief azure five [[Bezant|bezant]]s'', whilst his rebus, displayed many times in terracotta plaques on the walls of his mansion Sutton Place, Surrey, was a "tun" or barrel, used to designate the last syllable of his surname.

An example of canting arms proper are those of the Borough of Congleton in Cheshire consisting of a [[Biology:Conger|conger]] eel, a lion (in Latin, ''leo'') and a tun (barrel). This word sequence "conger-leo-tun" enunciates the town's name. Similarly, the coat of arms of St. Ignatius Loyola contains wolves (in Spanish, ''lobo'') and a kettle (''olla''), said by some (probably incorrectly) to be a rebus for "Loyola". The arms of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon feature bows and lions.

==Modern rebuses, word plays==
[[File:Top Secret Rebus Puzzle.png|thumb|A rebus puzzle representing top secret]]
A modern example of the rebus used as a form of word play is:
:H + [[File:Earcov.JPG|30px|Ear]]  = ''Hear'', or ''Here''.
By extension, it also uses the positioning of words or parts of words in relation to each other to convey a hidden meaning, for example:
:p walk ark'': walk in the park.

A rebus made up solely of letters (such as "CU" for "See you") is known as a gramogram, grammagram, or letteral word. This concept is sometimes extended to include numbers (as in "Q8" for "Kuwait", or "8" for "ate").<ref name="high">{{cite web|title=Cryptic crossword reference lists > Gramograms|url=http://www.highlightpress.com.au/gramograms.html|publisher=Highlight Press|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref> Rebuses are sometimes used in [[Crossword|crossword]] puzzles, with multiple letters or a symbol fitting into a single square.<ref name="nyt-solve">{{cite news|title=How to Solve The New York Times Crossword|work=The New York Times|author=Deb Amlen|access-date=12 December 2017|url=https://www.nytimes.com/guides/crosswords/how-to-solve-a-crossword-puzzle}}</ref>

==Pictograms==

The term ''rebus'' also refers to the use of a [[Pictogram|pictogram]] to represent a syllabic sound. This adapts pictograms into [[Social:Phonogram (linguistics)|phonograms]]. A precursor to the development of the alphabet, this process represents one of the most important developments of writing. Fully developed hieroglyphs read in rebus fashion were in use at Abydos in Egypt as early as 3400 BCE.<ref>Fischer, Steven Roger, "A History of Writing", 2004, Reaktion Books, {{ISBN|1-86189-167-9}}, {{ISBN|978-1-86189-167-9}}, at page 36</ref> In Mesopotamia, the principle was first employed on [[Social:Proto-Cuneiform|Proto-Cuneiform]] tablets, beginning in the Jemdet Nasr period (c. 3100–2900 BC).<ref>{{cite book |last1=DeFrancis |first1=John |title=Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems |date=1989 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |location=Honolulu, Hawaii |isbn=978-0-8248-1207-2 |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hypplIDMd0IC&q=sumerian+%22rebus%22+3000+bc&pg=PA75 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Woods |first1=Christopher |editor1-first=Christopher |editor1-last=Woods |title=Visible language. Inventions of writing in the ancient Middle East and beyond |url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/oimp32.pdf |series=Oriental Institute Museum Publications |volume=32 |year=2010 |publisher=University of Chicago |location=Chicago |isbn=978-1-885923-76-9 |chapter=The earliest Mesopotamian writing |pages=33–50 }}</ref>

The writing of correspondence in rebus form became popular in the eighteenth century and continued into the nineteenth century. [[Biography:Lewis Carroll|Lewis Carroll]] wrote the children he befriended picture-puzzle rebus letters, nonsense letters, and [[Physics:Mirror|looking-glass]] letters, which had to be held in front of a mirror to be read.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lewis Carroll Centenary Article |work=Niles Daily Star |date=3 January 1998 |author=Dawn Comer |url=http://www.lewiscarroll.org/centenary/niles.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070513102004/http://www.lewiscarroll.org/centenary/niles.html |archive-date=13 May 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Rebus letters served either as a sort of [[Code|code]] or simply as a pastime.

==Rebus principle==
<!-- linked from redirect Rebus principle -->
[[File:Ramesses II as child.jpg|thumb|upright|Ramesses II as child: Hieroglyphs: ''Ra-mes-su'']]

In [[Social:Linguistics|linguistics]], the '''rebus principle''' is the use of existing symbols, such as pictograms, purely for their sounds regardless of their meaning, to represent new words. Many ancient writing systems used what we now term 'the rebus principle' to represent abstract words, which otherwise would be hard to represent with pictograms. An example that illustrates the Rebus principle is the representation of the sentence "I can see you" by using the pictographs of "eye—can—sea—ewe".

Some linguists believe that the Chinese developed their writing system according to the rebus principle,<ref>''The Languages of China''. S. Robert Ramsey. Princeton University Press, 1987, p. 137.</ref> and Egyptian hieroglyphs sometimes used a similar system. A famous rebus statue of Ramses II uses three hieroglyphs to compose his name: [[Religion:Horus|Horus]] (as [[Religion:Ra|Ra]]), for ''Ra''; the child, ''mes''; and the sedge plant (stalk held in left hand), ''su''; the name Ra-mes-su is then formed.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The pharaohs|date=2002|publisher=Thames & Hudson|others=Ziegler, Christiane.|isbn=9780500051191|location=London|oclc=50215544}}</ref>

[[Biography:Sigmund Freud|Sigmund Freud]]<ref>Freud, S. (1900) ''The Interpretation of Dreams'' London: Hogarth Press</ref> posited that the rebus was the basis for uncovering the latent content of the [[Biology:Dream|dream]].  He wrote, "A dream is a picture puzzle of this sort and our predecessors in the
field of dream interpretation have made the mistake of treating the rebus as a pictorial composition: and as such it has seemed to them
nonsensical and worthless."

==Use in game shows==
'''Canada'''
* 1980s children's game show ''Kidstreet'' featured a rebus during the bonus round (or "final lap").

'''United Kingdom'''
* ''Catchphrase'' is a long-running game show which requires contestants to decipher a rebus. The show began as a short-lived American game show hosted by Art James before being seen in the United Kingdom from 1986 to 2004 and returning in 2013. There was also an Australian version of the show hosted by John Burgess.
* In 1998, Granada TV produced ''Waffle'', a single word rebus puzzle show that was hosted by Nick Weir, and included premium telephone line viewer participation.

'''United States'''
* Rebuses were central to the television game show ''Concentration.'' Contestants had to solve a rebus, usually partially concealed behind any of thirty numbered "squares", to win a game.  An updated version, known as ''Classic Concentration,'' shrank the board to twenty-five squares.  There were also British and Australian versions of the game.
* The HBO children's game series ''Crashbox'' features three rebus puzzles in the game segment "Ten Seconds."
* A short-lived ABC game show from 1965 known as ''The Rebus Game'' also involved contestants creating rebuses to communicate an answer.
* The Nickelodeon game show ''Get the Picture'' features a Power Surge called "Rebus Mania", in which the teams had 30 seconds to guess the rebus that was shown.

'''India'''
* ''Dadagiri Unlimited'' is a game show in which some rebus puzzles are used in the googly round. The show is broadcast by Zee Bangla and hosted by the former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly.

==Historical examples==
[[File:Frederick-rebus.png|thumb|250px|A rebus sent to Voltaire by Frederick the Great – ''Supper tomorrow at Sanssouci?'']]
[[File:Owl-dom rebus.png|thumb|Bishop Oldham's owl-dom rebus as carved in the wall of his chantry in Exeter Cathedral<ref>{{cite book |last=Boutell |first=Charles |title=Heraldry, Historical and Popular |url=https://archive.org/details/heraldryhistori00boutgoog |edition=2nd |year=1863 |publisher=Winsor and Newton |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/heraldryhistori00boutgoog/page/n166 118]}}</ref>]]

* It is reported<ref>{{cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |title=The Puzzle Instinct: The Meaning of Puzzles in Human Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47PHOZBdCLYC |edition=1st |year=2002 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Indiana, USA |page=61|isbn=0253217083 }}</ref> that when [[Biography:Voltaire|Voltaire]] was the guest of [[History:Frederick the Great|Frederick the Great]] at Sanssouci Palace, they exchanged puzzle notes. Frederick sent over a page with two picture blocks on it: two hands below the letter P, and then the number 100 below a picture of a handsaw, all followed by a question mark. Voltaire replied with: '''Ga!'''

:Both messages were rebuses in the French language: ''deux mains sous Pé à cent sous scie?'' "two hands under 'p' at [one] hundred under saw" = ''demain souper à Sanssouci?'' "supper tomorrow at Sanssouci?"); reply: ''Gé grand, A petit!'' "big 'G', small 'a'!" (= ''j'ai grand appétit!'' "I am very hungry!").
* The early sixteenth-century Bishop of Exeter, Hugh Oldham, adopted the owl as his personal device. It bore a scroll in its beak bearing the letters D.O.M., forming a rebus based on his surname, which would probably have been pronounced at the time as ''owl-dom''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/celebs/philanthropy1.html |title=Manchester Celebrities – Philanthropy, Philosophy & Religion – Bishop Hugh Oldham |publisher=ManchesterUK |access-date=2011-01-03 |last=Moss |first=John |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116153116/http://manchester2002-uk.com/celebs/philanthropy1.html |archive-date=16 January 2013 }}</ref>
* The nineteenth-century French sculptor Jean-Pierre Dantan would place rebuses on the [[Engineering:Socle (architecture)|socles]] of his caricature busts to identify the subject. For example, [[Biography:Victor Hugo|Victor Hugo]] was an axe (''hache'' in French, which sounds like the French pronunciation of "H") + UG + crossed bones (''os'', sounding like "O"). Hector Berlioz was represented by the letters BER low on the socle, with a bed (''lit'', for "li") comparatively high on the socle (to mean "''haut''", the French for high, pronounced with a silent "h" and "t" and the digraph "au" sounding like "O").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thearttribune.com/spip.php?page=docbig&id_document=2120 |title=The Art Tribune – ''Jean-Pierre Dantan (1800–1869), Louis-Hector Berlioz, 1833'' |publisher=Thearttribune.com |access-date=2019-01-14}}</ref>
* Rebus Bibles such as ''A Curious Hieroglyphic Bible'' were popular in the late eighteenth century for teaching children to read the Bible.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri014.html |title=A Curious Hieroglyphick Bible |work=American Treasures of the Library of Congress |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=31 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151009020545/http://loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/tri014.html |archive-date=9 October 2015 }}</ref>
* Franciscans interacting with [[Social:Nahuatl|Nahuatl]]-speaking groups found that the Cholultecans used rebus principles to record information in Latin. The Cholultecans learned the Pater Noster or Lord's Prayer with the aid of drawing pictures of a ''pantli'' (flag or banner) to represent ''pater'' and a picture of a prickly pear, ''nochtli,'' for ''noster''. This practice was seen as a strength of the people's pictograhic literacy.<ref>Mendieta, G. de (1971). ''Historia Eclesiastica Indiana''[A religios History of the Indians]. Mexico, DF: Editorial Porrua (Original work published 1945)</ref>

==Japan==
[[Image:やまとしずく生酛純米.jpeg|thumb|upright|A bottle of {{Nihongo||やまと　しずく|Yamato Shizuku|Japan droplet}} sake (name spelt out at top right), with a rebus ∧ト💧 which is read as {{Nihongo||山|yama|mountain}} (symbolized by the ∧) + {{Nihongo||ト|to|katakana character for ''to''}} + {{Nihongo||雫|shizuku|droplet}} (symbolized by the 💧)]]

In Japan, the rebus known as {{Nihongo||判じ物|hanjimono}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Hepburn|first=James Curtis|publisher=A.D.F. Randolph|year=1873|title=A Japanese-English and English-Japanese Dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8M9AAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA144}}</ref> was immensely popular during the Edo period.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Morris|editor-first=Ivan|last=Ihara|first=Saikaku|title=The Life of an Amorous Woman: And Other Writings|publisher=A.D.F. Randolph|year=1963|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LwYfVijt4twC&pg=PA348|isbn=978-0-8112-0187-2}}, p.348, note 456,</ref> A piece by ukiyo-e artist Kunisada was "Actor Puzzles" (''Yakusha hanjimono'') that featured rebuses.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Izzard |first1=Sebastian |last2=Rimer |first2=J. Thomas |last3=Carpenter |first3=John T. |title=Kunisada's world |publisher=Japan Society, in collaboration with Ukiyo-e Society of America |year=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PyM4AQAAIAAJ |isbn=978-0-913304-37-2}}, p. 23</ref>

Today the most often seen of these symbols is a picture of a sickle, a circle, and the letter {{Nihongo||ぬ|nu}}, read as {{Nihongo||鎌輪ぬ|kama-wa-nu|sickle circle ''nu''}}, interpreted as {{Nihongo||構わぬ|kamawanu}}, the old-fashioned form of {{Nihongo||構わない|kamawanai|don't worry, doesn't matter}}. This is known as the {{Nihongo||鎌輪奴文|kamawanu-mon|kamawanu sign}}, and dates to circa 1700,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weblio.jp/content |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160525003448/http://www.weblio.jp/content |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-05-25 |title=辞典・百科事典の検索サービス – Weblio辞書 |publisher=Arquivo.pt |access-date=2019-01-14}}</ref> being used in kabuki since circa 1815.<ref>[https://kotobank.jp/word/] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817053914/https://kotobank.jp/word/|date=17 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://tabikaratabi.pro.tok2.com/cgi-bin/c-board.cgi?cmd=one;no=147;id=monnyoujitenn |title=旅から旅 文様事典 ＢＢＳ |publisher=Tabikaratabi.pro.tok2.com |access-date=2015-06-20}}</ref>

Kabuki actors would wear ''yukata'' and other clothing whose pictorial design, in rebus, represented their Yagō "guild names", and would distribute tenugui cloth with their rebused names as well. The practice was not restricted to the acting profession and was undertaken by townsfolk of various walks of life. There were also pictorial calendars called  egoyomi that represented the Japanese calendar in rebus so it could be "read" by the illiterate.

Today a number of abstract examples following certain conventions are occasionally used for names, primarily for corporate logos or product logos and incorporating some characters of the name, as in a monogram; see Japanese rebus monogram. The most familiar example globally is the logo for Yamasa soy sauce, which is a ∧ with a サ under it. This is read as ''Yama'', for {{Nihongo||山|yama|mountain}} (symbolized by the ∧) + {{Nihongo||サ|sa|katakana character for ''sa''}}.

[[File:Kuni rebus 2.jpg|thumb|center|250px|A rebus for the names of Japanese provinces, from around 1800]]

==Rebus puzzles on US beers==
* Lone Star has rebus puzzles under the [[Engineering:Crown cork|crown caps]] of its bottled beer, as do National Bohemian, Lucky Lager, Falstaff, Olympia, Rainier, Haffenreffer, Kassel, Pearl, Regal, Ballantine, Mickey's, Lionshead, and Texas Pride during the 1970s and the 1980s. These puzzle caps are also called "crown ticklers".<ref>{{cite web|author=Alan J. Switzer|title=Puzzle Beer Caps|url=http://www.jokelibrary.net/yyDrawings/bottle_caps.html|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922132249/http://www.jokelibrary.net/yyDrawings/bottle_caps.html|archive-date=2012-09-22|access-date=2013-03-14|publisher=Jokelibrary.net}}</ref> Narragansett Beer uses rebus puzzles on their bottle caps, and bar coasters.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.narragansettbeer.com/category/rebus-puzzles |title=Rebus Puzzles |website=Narragansett Beer}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Dingbat]], another word for rebus, derived from the game of the same name
*[[Emoji]]
* Verbal arithmetic
* Visual pun

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.rebuses.co/how-to-solve-a-rebus-puzzle/ How to solve Rebus puzzles].
* An example of using [http://www.zompist.com/yingzi/yingzi.htm chinese-like] characters to write English.
* The online music review [http://www.lafolia.com/ La Folia] offers [http://www.lafolia.com/archive/nevin/nevin200703rebus.html rebuses derived from composers' names]
* Online rebus generators, automatically convert any text into a rebus:
** [https://www.festisite.com/rebus/ festisite.com]
** [https://rebus.club rebus.club] High quality generator due to the use of a special purpose [[Edit distance]] algorithm.
** [http://rebus1.com/en/index.php?item=rebus_generator rebus1.com].
* Collection of interesting [https://www.puzzles-world.com/search/label/Rebus Rebus Puzzles]
* [https://readingrebus.com/ Reading Rebus Project]


[[Category:Language and mysticism]]

{{Sourceattribution|Rebus}}