Symbolwise

Data sources

Every meaning, origin claim and visual description on Symbolwise is tied to one or more named sources. This page explains what counts as a source, how source authority feeds confidence, and how we handle disagreement between sources.

Evidence hierarchy

We prefer primary and official sources wherever they exist, and treat lower-authority sources as supporting evidence rather than proof. Roughly in order of weight:

  1. 1.Official standards bodies (e.g. ISO, GHS, national trademark/copyright offices)
  2. 2.Primary historical sources and documents
  3. 3.Academic and peer-reviewed publications
  4. 4.Museums, archives and heritage organisations
  5. 5.Established encyclopedic references
  6. 6.Reputable journalism
  7. 7.Community or crowd-sourced references
  8. 8.Self-published or unverified sources

Use of contemporary news reporting

Reputable journalism is a legitimate source for documenting that a symbol appeared in a specific, real-world event — see news & historical events. News reporting alone does not establish a symbol's meaning or origin; those claims require higher-authority sourcing.

Conflicting sources, freshness and geography

When sources disagree, we say so — a meaning is marked disputed rather than silently resolved in one direction. Confidence is reduced when contradictions are unresolved, when a source is old relative to how fast that kind of evidence changes, or when the geographic or cultural scope of a source doesn't precisely match the claim being made (for example, a source about European usage doesn't automatically establish a claim about global usage).

Popular repetition is not proof

A claim repeated across many low-authority pages is not treated as more credible than one authoritative source — we look for genuinely independent corroboration, not restatement. Widespread but incorrect attributions are explicitly labelled as such (see our methodology), for example the common conflation of the caduceus with medicine.

Attribution and third-party rights

We link to and credit original sources rather than reproducing their content at length, and we do not claim ownership over material we don't own — official definitions, third-party sources and third-party imagery remain the rights of their original publishers. See enquiries & licensing for how rights differ by material type.

Suggest a source or correction

If you know a better or more authoritative source for something on Symbolwise, or believe a source has been misread, let us know. Every submission is reviewed by a person before any change is published.