symbologist
Reads hidden meanings
A symbologist is someone who studies or interprets symbols—their meanings, origins, and cultural significance.
The term gained popular currency through Dan Brown's novels, where protagonist Robert Langdon is a Harvard symbologist who decodes religious and historical symbols to solve mysteries.
Outside fiction, the work overlaps with semiotics and iconography: The symbologist explained the hidden meanings in Renaissance paintings.
Hidden writing system
- decodeConvert from cipher
- decipherConvert code to plaintext
- cryptanalysisStudy of breaking ciphers
- hieroglyphAncient Egyptian picture-writing symbol
cuneiform · encryption · steganography · rune · pictograph · glyph
Meaning-bearing form
- signifiedExpressed meaning symbolically
- iconPictorial screen symbol
- indexAlphabetical guide to contents
- codeSymbolic communication system
encoding · decoding · signification · denotation · connotation · paradigm · Eco · meaning-making
Study of ancient inscriptions
- philologyStudy of historical texts
- paleographyStudy of ancient handwriting
- etymologyWord origin study
- hermeneuticsStudy of interpretation methods
exegesis · annotation · decipherment · academic · researcher · archive · inscription · interpretation
cipher
Hidden writing system
- decodeConvert from cipher
- decipherConvert code to plaintext
- cryptanalysisStudy of breaking ciphers
hieroglyph · cuneiform · encryption · steganography · rune · pictograph · glyph
signifier
Meaning-bearing form
- signifiedExpressed meaning symbolically
- iconPictorial screen symbol
- indexAlphabetical guide to contents
code · encoding · decoding · signification · denotation · connotation · paradigm · Eco · meaning-making · referent
epigraphy
Study of ancient inscriptions
- philologyStudy of historical texts
- paleographyStudy of ancient handwriting
- etymologyWord origin study
hermeneutics · exegesis · annotation · decipherment · academic · researcher · archive · inscription · interpretation
allegory
Symbolic tale with deeper meaning
- emblemRepresentational sign or device
- motifRecurring thematic element
- archetypeOriginal model for copies
heraldry · crest · insignia · badge · totem · imagery · representation · Byzantine · Renaissance · attribute
archetype
Original model for copies
deity · hero · cosmogony · oracle · prophecy · underworld · Jung · Campbell · ritual · trickster
symbologistliteralist
One rejecting figurative meaning
empiricist · positivist · fundamentalist · cryptographer · textualist
symbologiststatistician
Professional interpreter of numbers
cryptographer · materialist · physicist · cryptanalyst · chemist
symbol, symbolic, symbols, symbolize, symbolism, symbolized, symbolizing, semiotics, symbolically