Language is a beautiful thing.
For example, take the English word for “astronomy.”
Astronomy in Ancient Greek is ἀστρονομία.
“αστρο” means astron, or “star”
“νομία” derives from the word νόμος meaning nomos, or “law / culture”
Combined together, astronomy means “law of the stars” or “culture of the stars” depending on the translation. To me, this has beautiful meaning. Star culture.
Like English, the subdivisions of a word in Chinese carry so much meaning; each word connects me to wisdom older than my bones.
Chinese is a beautiful and unique language — one of the oldest written languages and closest in form to hieroglyphics of Ancient Egypt. In fact, it is the only modern language that still uses symbols and ideas as a means to communicate.
This means each character in the Chinese language comprises of sub-characters, with layers that guide us to a larger meaning. That is what this project seeks to do: an analysis of the internal workings of a language. A dissection of its parts.
Let’s start with the characters for “Chinese”, or 中文 (zhōngwén), for example:
中 (zhōng): Middle
文 (wén): Language
When you break down the character 中 (zhōng) visually, it looks like a rectangle with a line bisecting it in the middle.
中 (zhōng) is the same character used for “China,” or 中国 (zhōngguó) aka the Middle Kingdom. It’s also the same character used for “Chinese,” 中国人 (zhōngguó rén), AKA the people of the Middle Kingdom, aptly named given China’s geographic location and central influence.
And in a more personal twist, I’ve often felt caught in the middle as well— forever navigating between East and West.
How poetic, yet pragmatic at the same time for this character to be called “middle.”
文 (wén) is the character for writing, or written language. It’s also the same character used to describe culture or being civilized, evolved from the word for culture, or 文化 (wénhuà).
文化 (wénhuà) means literally to “write change.”
I like to think it means the idea to effect change through words. That all our cultures are created through the power of language.
And so, if you take the characters 中文 (zhōngwén) and dissect them literally, the translation would be “middle language.”
But when combined, these two characters 中文 (zhōngwén) carry further meaning — the language for the people of the Middle Kingdom, the language that “writes change” to build the foundation of their culture. My culture.
As I look at the room around me as I type, searching for inspiration, I can't help but wonder: what hasn't been constructed through the power of words? Words have the power to build someone up or tear someone down.
It’s a way for people to see us. Language is a beautiful thing.
And thus, welcome to The Character Project.
This is such a beautiful newsletter idea, really looking forward to reading more! :)
Ah...you spurred me to read more about "change", "flower", and other characters...