No8Do, Sevilla

The universal symbol of Sevilla is No8Do--you see it everywhere.  It is a rebus of a motto, which seems unusual to me, but I am not terribly widely traveled--The '8' is said to represent a skein of wool, which in Spanish would be 'madeja', so if you are reading in an exaggerated phonetic manner, this translates to 'no me ha dejado', which means 'It has not left me'.

That could mean a lot of things.  It is generally interpreted to refer to King Alfonso X, then the occupant of the Alcazar,  said of the citizens of Sevilla when he was off fighting his son, Don Sancho of Castillo, in the 13th century--a family feud is always a good place to take sides.  Those were bloody times and taking sides could have dire consequences.  The towns and countryside in Spain changed hands a number of times over the generations, and proclaiming loyalty was potentially dangerous.

Wikipedia says that the motto is most likely an abbreviation of the Latin In Nomine Domini ("in the name of the Lord"), though the popularity of the rebus and its accompanying legend has obscured these origins.  There is no fun in this explanation, no romance, so I prefer to ignore it. Let's stick with the explanation that makes a better story--that is, after all, how history functions.  Everyone knows that Betsy Ross did not make George Washington a national flag, but it is a very good story, so we are sticking to it.