Often, the words about language were once metaphors, and their etymology focuses on that relational core. One word mentioned in the last chapter, the word “symbol,” comes from an ancient Greek rook, “bol,” which means “to throw”. Combined with “sym” (which means “the same”), a symbol literally means “thrown as the same.” When our minds throw words at us, those words appear to be much the same as the things to which they “refer”.
— Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life, Steven C Hayes
Adam Zerner comments on Replace the Symbol with the Substance