Analogy has been considered useful in describing language at least since the time of Saussure.
By the same principle, linguists (such as Ferdinand de Saussure) state that words are not only arbitrary, but also largely idiosyncratic signs.
Ferdinand Marcos | Ferdinand Magellan | Franz Ferdinand | Ferdinand II of Aragon | Franz Ferdinand (band) | Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria | Ferdinand von Mueller | Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor | Ferdinand I | Ferdinand | Louis-Ferdinand Céline | Ferdinand Foch | Rio Ferdinand | Ferdinand VII of Spain | Ferdinand de Lesseps | Saussure | Ferdinand Porsche | Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor | Ferdinand II | Ferdinand Hodler | Ferdinand I of Naples | Ferdinand III | Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden | Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies | Ferdinand I of Bulgaria | Ferdinand I of Aragon | Ferdinand III of Castile | Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor | Ferdinand Finne | Ferdinand Bonaventura, 7th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau |
It has been the standard position of modern linguistics since Ferdinand de Saussure's l'arbitraire du signe, but there have always been dissenting positions of phonosemantics, recently defended by Margaret Magnus and Vilayanur S. Ramachandran.
Lewis-Williams goes on to discuss structuralist interpretations of the artworks, such as those first advocated by Giambattista Vico and Ferdinand de Saussure, and later reformulated by the likes of Max Raphael, Annette Laming-Emperaire and André Leroi-Gourhan.