Chemical element of metals. Cu comes from Cuprum, Fe comes from Ferrum, Ag from Argentum. The symbols were not followed by a period (full stop) as with abbreviations. Later chemical elements were also assigned unique chemical symbols, based on the name of the element, but not necessarily in English. For example, sodium has the chemical symbol 'Na' after the Latin "natrium". The same applies to "W" (wolfram) for tungsten, "Fe" (ferrum) for iron, "Hg" (hydrargyrum) for mercury, "Sn" (stannum) for tin, "K" (kalium) for potassium, "Au" (aurum) for gold, "Ag" (argentum) for silver, "Pb" (plumbum) for lead, "Cu" (cuprum) for copper, and
Symbol Hence, "outward sign" of something. The meaning "something which stands for something else" was first recorded in 1590, in Edmund Spenser's "Faerie Queene". In considering the effect of a symbol on the psyche, in his seminal essay "The Symbol without Meaning" Joseph Campbell proposes the following definition: "A symbol is an energy evoking, and directing, agent". Later, expanding on what he means by this definition Campbell says: Jared Elisha defined symbolism that is something that stands for another, it can be place, object, or a person Heinrich Zimmer gives a concise overview of the nature, and perennial relevance, of symbols.