Emblem

An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint.

A real or metal cockle shell, the emblem of James the Great, sewn onto the hat or clothes, identified a medieval pilgrim to his shrine at Santiago de Compostela.

In the Middle Ages, many saints were given emblems, which served to identify them in paintings and other images: St. Catherine of Alexandria had a wheel, or a sword, St. Anthony the Abbot, a pig and a small bell.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, there was a fashion, started in Italy, for making large medals with a portrait head on the obverse and the emblem on the reverse; these would be given to friends and as diplomatic gifts.

A symbol, on the other hand, substitutes one thing for another, in a more concrete fashion:[1] A totem is specifically an animal emblem that expresses the spirit of a clan.

Since the 15th century, the terms of emblem (emblema; from Greek: ἔμβλημα, meaning "embossed ornament") and emblematura belong to the termini technici of architecture.

[6] "Emblem" in this sense refers to a didactic or moralizing combination of picture and text intended to draw the reader into a self-reflective examination of their own life.

[8] Linguistic properties are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, etc..[9] In contrast with sign language, emblems are a non-linguistic form of communication.