We need to let our children grow up to face the world armed with knowledge, with much more knowledge than we ourselves had at their age. It is scary, but the alternative is worse.
Daniel DennettRead
Words have a genealogy and it's easier to trace the evolution of a single word than the evolution of a language.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Understanding words can provide insight into the development of language over time.
This quote by Daniel Dennett emphasizes the complexity of language and the idea that words evolve individually, reflecting a deeper linguistic history that is often harder to trace when looking at language as a whole. It suggests that by studying the genealogy of a single word, one can better understand the broader dynamics of language change and development.
Themes
LanguageWordsEvolutionGenealogyCommunication
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about linguistics, I could use this quote to illustrate the intricacies of language evolution.
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