Comment by crooked-v
17 hours ago
Public signage with words was basically nonexistent in the pre-modern era. Why bother? The overhead of getting literate people was reserved for the stuff that couldn't be communicated in symbols, like keeping records for the taxman or contracts to prevent future land disputes.
British pubs traditionally have a hanging signboard with a pictorial illustration of the name. Several examples at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub_names_in_Great_Britain