Rebus
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Rebus puzzles are a type of picture-based word puzzle originating in the Middle Ages and deriving from early pictographic languages. While they were traditionally used to express surnames in heraldry, it was popularized in its modern form by the American game show Concentration.
History
Rebuses are one of the oldest types of wordplay, dating back to early European heraldry. The original purpose was to incorporate surnames into heraldic designs in a visually significant way, but the purpose has since evolved to be a unique way to communicate, a form of artistic expression, a way to advertise products, and a popular puzzle type.
Etymology
The word 'rebus' came to be present in modern English through the French and Latin languages. Originally, it could be translated literally from Latin as 'by means of objects'. The word was also present in the phrase "non verbis sed rebus", meaning 'not by words but by things'. Being a fitting description of modern rebuses, this phrase is often considered to be the origin of the word in English.
However, in the mid-1600s, French sources recorded use of the word in the French phrase 'de rebus quæ geruntur', translated as 'of things which are going on'. The phrase was in reference to the trend of carnivals putting up satirical posters and artwork depicting current events via rebus-like picture sequences. It's likely that the Latin version more directly influenced modern English usage, but the popularization of the word as applied to the French carnival rebuses still had some influence on the wordplay's evolution itself.
The Middle Ages - Heraldry
During the Middle Ages in Europe, heraldry was commonly used as a way to represent individual people, regions, or kingdoms via unique imagery. A common practice in personal coats of arms was to use canting arms, a way to represent names and titles via a rebus/pun. As many familial names originated from professions or otherwise contained words with prominent imagery, many canting arms were simply accurate visual representations of a name's etymology. This includes the prominent Bowes-Lyon family, which had both archers' bows and heraldic lions on their crest. Similarly, canting arms for towns with known etymologies could usually be represented fairly easily, such as Châteaurenard, France, whose arms contain a château (castle) and a renard (fox).
Those wishing to have more fun with the interpretation of their names or being unfortunate enough to not have easily-translatable names in the first place could take an alternate route to creating their arms. For example, the borough of Congleton, in Cheshire county, England, uses eels, lions, and a barrel in its coat of arms. This represents the sequence 'Conger (eel), Leo (lion), Tun (barrel)', thereby creating a fairly close approximation of the borough's name.
1600s-1900s - Social and Artistic Rebuses
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1900s-Today - Game Shows and Advertisements
In the US, the widespread appreciation for rebuses began in the 1950s, when the game show Concentration began broadcast on NBC. While the bulk of the show was an elaborate matching game for prizes, in order to claim their prizes contestants had to solve a rebus puzzle that gradually got revealed with each correct match. The popularity of the show across multiple broadcast periods, including a stint in syndication and a reboot in the 80s would produce international version of the show, as well as attempts to adapt rebuses for other game show formats. These include the Canadian Kidstreet, the British Waffle, and the American Crashbox, all of which premiered in the 80s and 90s to varying levels of success.
Another short-lived show was the American Catchphrase, wherein contestants would, rather than playing a separate game to slowly reveal a rebus puzzle, be gradually shown a rebus drawn out in real time. The goal was to buzz in and guess what the rebus was depicting before one's opponent could. The show only survived a few months in the US, but when it was picked up in the UK two days after the US's last episode, it ended up lasting 18 years (not including the reboot in 2013 that is still running as of 2022).
Outside of game shows, the US was also exposed to rebuses via their beer, as Lone Star, Ballantine, Olympia, and many other companies began to print small rebuses under their bottlecaps in the 70s and 80s. These acted as both a collectible item and an icebreaker in social situation. A popular gimmick soon after it was introduced, the 'crown ticklers' as they were sometimes called were quickly copied by over a dozen different brands across the United States.
Similarly, Japanese companies also began to use rebus-like monograms in logos and advertising, particular among bottled products like alcohol and soy sauce. One such sake company, Yamato Shizuku, uses an image combining the symbols ∧,ト, and 💧 (in vertical order), in order to represent the company name. The ∧ gets interpreted as a mountain, and pronounced as "yama". ト is the katakana for "to", while the droplet (💧) at the bottom is read straight, with the translation of "shizuku", resulting in the full name of [yama]+[to]+[shizuku].
Puzzle Application
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Strategy
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Notable Examples
- Puzzle-Regarding Vehicle (MITMH 2013) - A combination of cryptic crossword clues and traditional rebuses, allowing some words to act in place of the usual plus/minus symbols, as well as other common cryptic clue operations.
- Radical Rebuses (MITMH 2021) - Instead of traditional rebuses, uses pictures representing Chinese radicals arranged in a way that, when the characters are arranged in the same way, creates a new character. Perhaps unintentional, but this acts as a nod to the idea that the rebus principle is part of the reason that the Chinese language is constructed the way that it is.
- The Investigation (MITMH 2022) - A rare rebus-based meta, this puzzle uses a mix of images and feeder answers to form a long rebus sequence resulting in the final answer. Notably, the puzzle does not pre-place the images/puzzles, so solvers must use logic (and a color-coding system) to figure out where each of the words belongs in the sequence.
