Sobre el concepto de “rebus”

Abstract

Rebus interpretation constitutes an essential factor in the explanations about the development of writing, most notably when dealing with the shift from an ideographic system to a syllabic and / or alphabetic one. The present paper discusses the main features which may be drawn from the rebus concept, at the light of the analysis of data from different cultural traditions, while at the same time focusing on the difficulties posed by its extensive generalization among linguists and philologists.