Every word has a meaning. We are not always aware of what a word wants to tell. Discovering the meaning of words is the key to the magic of language.

The Meaning of Words


When I studied Spanish literature during my university years, there was one particular author that struck me most: The great early 20th century philosopher Ortega y Gasset.
He said: “We are not talking in a serious way. We are misusing words all the time. Our spoken language is nothing but a pseudo-language.”

I ask you, is it true ?

Well, let’s click on the middle mouse button and scroll down the screen menu. That’s how we talk these days. Poor linguists of the future, who try to decipher our lunatic mind.

Why is it so important to know the meaning of the words, and speak seriously? Because our mind seems to process words similar to a feedback-loop-system. Our mind programs our speech and, again, is reprogrammed through the way we speak, and our spoken consciousness. The problem is that words address views, experiences, emotions, that our ancestors lived in the past. Words are often only defined by a corroborative context, and can have a kaleidoscope of personal interpretations and cultural bias. Words can have multiple meanings, depending on how it is pronounced, or in which context, at a given occasion. Words are a minefield.

This said, many words have a deep meaning, and are full of mystery and magic. Wakeful of their meaning, and pronouncing consciously, we can open a door to insight and comprehension. Many words also carry with them a picture.

Take the Spanish word “sierra”. It is used for mountain ranges, mainly high mountains. It stems from the Spanish word “serrar” (=cutting wood).

• Some 2500 years ago, probably in the late Bronze Age, woodcutters were felling oak trees some thirty miles south of the Pyrenees, the mountain chain that separates and links France from Spain. From the oak forests, and only from there, one could see the magnificent silhouette of the Pyrenees. It loomed behind the oak forest as a sequence of spiky, indented mountains and valleys arranged in a regular order, looking like the saw used by the wood cutters. One day, a person looked up to the horizon. In his or her mind the pictures of the saw and the silhouette of the mountains became one, and a new word was created. It traveled throughout Spain, as the Spaniards drove the Moors from the land. It went to the Americas, also to Portugal and Brazil. The Portuguese and Brazilians even use it for little, gentle hills that don’t look like a saw. As a wood saw wears off, so do serrate mountains, and a word’s meaning.

• Let’s cite another example: the days of the week. It’s Sunday, we sit in the patio and worship the sun god. Monday is sacred to the moon goddess, a good occasion to enjoy her wisdom on a good nightly drink, without, however, becoming a lunatic. Tuesday means the day of regular duties. It’s an excellent day to file you tax returns. Wednesday is Odin’s day, the mystical god of poetry. Take a breath of inspiration from a good movie, or an inspiring book. Thursday is devoted to the god of thunder, Thor, your day for a tough business review. On a Thursday you can tell your boss his strategy is nuts. Friday is the day of Freia, the love goddess. It is also related to ‘free’ and freedom. Hence, take off from work, find your lovely, sweet sex partner and free yourself. At last, Saturday is overshadowed by the mysteries of Saturn – an excellent opportunity to visit the graveyard or see your mother-in-law.

• My favorite words, however, is ‘development.’ It has a Latin root. The word means taking off veil after veil, whilst proceeding to the true meaning. The German word ‘Entwicklung,’ the Dutch word ‘ontwikeling’ and the Spanish word ‘desarrollo’ have a similar meaning: un-spooling a spindle. All these words and their meaning have somewhere a common root, going back in time some 7000 years. The people who forged these words knew, that the perfect truth is already there, and coming closer to it only requires removing the veils of ignorance.

Let me end this little story with the words of the magnificent Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo. He had finalized shaping the statue of David, out of a block of white marble some fifteen feet tall. I was told, that one can see on David’s head a little section of virgin, untreated rock surface. When the sculptor was asked, what he had achieved, Michelangelo replied in a modest and cheeky way. “Not much,” he said. “The picture was already present in the rock, I only had to make it visible.”

(c) Franz L Kessler 2004