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Most people know that the Superman symbol is not an S, it just happens to looks like one. enter image description here

(Related: Why was the Superman's symbol an *English* letter "S"?)

Is the same true of the Aquaman symbols,

enter image description here orenter image description here ?

Or does it legitimately stand for either Aquaman or Atlantis ?

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The A on Aquaman's belt is a glyph which stands for Atlantis.

As shown here from Aquaman (New 52) #4:

enter image description here

It's explicitly mentioned in Aquaman (New 52) #5:

enter image description here

The only piece of actual Atlantean writing I've been able to find is by Atlanna (Aquaman's mother), taken from Aquaman: Time and Tide #1 (from 1993):
enter image description here

This appears to be using an English alphabet, suggesting that it is both the symbol for Atlantis, and an A.

This text came from the closing narrative of The Atlantis Chronicles #7 (from 1990). Here she is talking about the journal:

enter image description here

And writing in it:

enter image description here

I've not been able to see anything to suggest a distinctive Atlantean alphabet within DC Comics lore, such as there is for Kryptonian and Superman's "S".

IGN mentions this when discussing the film costume:

The "A" on his belt is of course the "A" for Aquaman. However, just as Superman's "S" shield has gone on to become a family crest and a symbol for hope, so has Aquaman's "A" in the comics. Firstly, the symbol represents Atlantis in the Atlantean alphabet.

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  • Of course, it’s not actually an “A”. It’s missing the cross-bar. – Paul D. Waite Sep 29 '15 at 14:55
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    @PaulD.Waite or it needs a hole drilling in it... – NikolaiDante Sep 29 '15 at 14:56
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    @NikolaiDante: Well, we know it's not an A. But you're right that 'it's a glyph' doesn't tell us if it's an Atlantean letter. In fact using the word glyph rather than letter possibly suggests it's not. We'd need evidence that either it's a special glyph outside their writing system, or that their writing system is not alphabetic. – ThePopMachine Sep 29 '15 at 15:06
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    @PaulD.Waite Maybe it's a lambda, for 'lantis. – recognizer Sep 29 '15 at 16:30

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