Editing Rebus (section)

==Pictograms==

The term ''rebus'' also refers to the use of a [[pictogram]] to represent a syllabic sound. This adapts pictograms into [[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, Egypt|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 [[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. [[Lewis Carroll]] wrote the children he befriended picture-puzzle rebus letters, nonsense letters, and [[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]] or simply as a [[pastime]].