From: Philippe Verdy (verdy_p@wanadoo.fr)
Date: Fri Sep 28 2007 - 17:09:02 CDT
Note that we have various animal symbols still missing, despite they are
important culturally, so this does not concern only the missing fish:
* birds, eagles/falcons, peafowls/peacocks (''Pavo'')
* snakes (cobras...)
* cats, dogs and cat's heads
* lions, tigers
* elephants, cows, horses
* scarabeaes, ants, scorpions, other insects and arachnids
* dragons
But also:
* heraldic symbols like chains, palms... (we have a tower, stars, suns, and
a bridge, but don't forget native Amerindian heraldic symbols as seen on
totems and decorated village houses).
* body parts: eye, hand, arm, foot...
* man and woman visual symbols (not the gender/sex symbols)
* plates, cups, knifes, forks, firearms, canons...
* more modern tools like: boats, cars, buses, ferries, trains, planes,
bicycles (some of them are already encoded), but also the hammer...
Many of them would be part of (possibly large) hieroglyphic collections,
notably Aegyptian and Mayan hieroglyphs, but also old glyphs that were used
(before the introduction of alphabets with very simplified or symbolic
essential contours after having been transformed a lot, such as the bow head
that became today's Greek Alpha or Latin/Cyrillic letters A).
Many of these symbols will be found without the hieroglyphic usage to denote
words, but as symbols with informal background meaning or association, they
are often used in decorative patterns around pages. In that case, their
exact meaning or rile is not always known, but their prevalence seem to be
culturally related. There may be some hidden meaning in the way they are
used in old manuscripts. In historic books, they may indicate dates, empires
and kingdoms, or may be a signature of the author or his own status (similar
to the tiny signs you still find today on jewelry and that are still used to
authenticate them or their content and intended audience).
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