The PC keyboard symbols we lost to time
Key symbols we lost to time, pt. 1: The PC side
Old PC keyboards once used dozens of pictographic symbols for functions like Print Screen, Insert, and Delete, many inspired by proofreader marks. As office users rejected confusing icons, only four survived: Shift, Enter, Tab, and Backspace. The author traces this history and notes that some symbols, like ⎀ and ⎃, still exist in Unicode.
For a lot of 20th century, a battle has been waging between words and icons.