I take great pleasure in finding root words. These originals branch off. At first, they seemed good enough to communicate, but they needed a little extra to express further details. Yet, they are not replaceable. Even when a ROOT is extended, changed, or replaced with a new word in its place, it still needs that original as a reference.

What do you mean burgundy is a dark red? What is red? What is dark(er)? It is also Bourgogne, which has the same meaning but is also a region. You can use both interchangeably, but not exactly.

These are not accidents or mistakes. THIS is the beauty of language, and every word tells a story.

Consensus is a word that needs brief studying as the Latin roots apparently imply it hails from “cōnsēnsus”. The meaning hasn’t been altered much, though the pronunciation may have been, though who can be certain?

While words like “consensus” show how meanings adapt historically, other words hold their power in the immediate feeling they evoke.

One of my favourite English words is “Bed”.

No other word brings immediate thoughts of comfort, provided you are given a prime example of what a Bed especially a “good” Bed, entails and provides. To the point where once you’ve experienced a truly blissful Bed, or at least an optimal one, it may sit in your mind as what a default Bed should be.

This is a Good Bed, a Bad Bed, a comfortable Bed, a Small Bed, a Luxury Bed, and so on.

I want to step back here, though. This could get close to the “what is Good, what is Bad” discussion again, and that’s not what I want us to backtrack to.

The concept of “Bed” produces a near UNIVERSAL physical feeling of rest but how do we express these ideas without speaking at all?

In American Sign Language(ASL) the sign for “Sleep” has your hand run from the top of ones head and ends at the end of ones face beneath the chin BUT in British Sign Language(BSL) for “Sleep” you have your thumb and index finger tapping the side of your head.

For those who would be seeking to just tell a complete stranger some sort of signal for sleep or rest they’d likely just clasp their hands together and place their head on the top of the palms closed and these are still used in Sign Language too to be clear but in further communication more for BED and Rest in general.

How do we gesture the intangible without oversimplifying?

ASL and BSL don’t have a sign for Omnipotence, but they do in general for God, Almighty, All-Powerful. Some cultures do have hand signals and gestures towards a creator.

There are certainly countless spiritual hand gestures many may be aware of that overlap several religions, such as the Hand of Hamsa or The Lotus Mudra, that are quite well known by humans well over the population of the United States, but equally as unknown.

As a communication enthusiast I find myself after this rambling back to asking the basics.
Why do Words have to be translated at all? Why does meaning have to be converted to signals that we need to interpret to communicate?  Why do some work so well and others not at all?

It is surprising that we manage to communicate anything at all.

Regards,

Alexander / Zenchi