rebus English · revision 1536

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1605}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈɹiːbəs/; /ˈɹibəs/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|rébus]] and directly [[bor|la|rēbus|t=by things]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Collins 2023) the ablative plural of [[m|la|rēs|t=thing, object]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986) According to French sources it comes from the phrase [[m|la|dē rēbus quae geruntur|t=of the things that are going on]], used of satirical pieces with picture riddles that the clerks of Picardy wrote at carnival time.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Weekley 1921) The RHWU instead gives the phrase [[m|la|nōn verbīs sed rēbus|t=not by words but by things]].^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An enigmatic representation of a name, word or phrase by pictures or arrangements of letters that suggest its syllables (1605 in the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster; about 1600 in Etymonline).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The French word is recorded in 1512.^(Weekley 1921) Skeat gives the example of the name ''Bolton'' represented by a picture of a bolt and a tun.^(Skeat 1911) In heraldry a rebus is a device that puns on its bearer's name,^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024) and the verb, to mark with a rebus, dates from 1655.^(OED 1989) The word later also covered puzzles that play on each syllable of a word without pictures.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1512 – French ''rébus''.^(Weekley 1921)

+ * 1605 – a picture puzzle.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1655 – verb, to mark with a rebus.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A representation of words or syllables by pictures or symbols whose names sound like them, often as a [[puzzle]], as when ''hear'' is shown by an H followed by a picture of an ear.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(heraldry)'' An emblem or device that represents its bearer's name by a [[pun]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To mark with or represent by a rebus.^(MWU 2024)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[real]]

+ * [[republic]]

+ * [[riddle]]

+ * [[pictogram]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}