An old chinese proverb => its source?

[Thomas Lammers]

At 07:49 AM 8/7/03 -0400, christian thompson wrote:

 >>>There is an old chinese proverb that I picked up some where and have
now forgotten the source.  Does any one know the source of the
following:  "The beginning of knowledge consists in learning to call things
by their names."<<<

Well, *I* learned it from L. F. Guldner, Vascular Plants of Scott and
Muscatine Counties [Iowa], Davenport Public Museum Botanical Publication #1
(Davenport Iowa, 1960).  At the beginning of his catalog, on pg. 46, he
quoted it as "The naming of things by their right names is the beginning of
wisdom.  Ancient Chinese proverb".  I've not been able to track down
another source.

In a similar vein, I found this quote by Sir Francis Bacon (in Bartlett's,
IIRC): "Whensoever he shall be able to call the creatures by their true
names, he shall again command them."

Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)
Department of Biology and Microbiology
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901-8640 USA

e-mail:       lammers at uwosh.edu
phone:      920-424-1002
fax:           920-424-1101

Plant systematics; classification, nomenclature, evolution, and biogeography
of the Campanulaceae s. lat.

Webpages:
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/Lammers.htm
http://www.uwosh.edu/departments/biology/herbarium/herbarium.html
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Resort/7156/lammers.html
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"Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that stood his ground."
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