Text. A term used today in a very broad sense to cover not only verbal, but also other forms of communication. One might encounter the claim that the face, or a city, is a text. A distinctive feature of this newly emerged use of text is that the derivation of this word from the Latin word textere ("to weave") and textum ("a web; texture") appears to inform the use. The text is something woven; but now readers join authors or writers as the weavers of texts. That is, the emphasis on the text as an open and perhaps even unfinished process.

 

Colapietro, Vincent M. Glossary of Semiotics. New York: Paragon House, 1993. Page 193.