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Comment on Internet Hole

Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

I’ve just now come up with the question of how the hell does the Chinese language work?

I imagine they didn’t have a symbol for internet hundreds of years ago, how can they have “internet hole” as three symbols?

I imagine they have a symbol for hole, what are the other two? Do they need to make a new symbol every time something new is invented?

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Sanyanov@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Chinese normally come up with some ways to use old terms to describe new things.

First character means “net” (can also be fishing or spider net)

Second means “line, route” (also way, sequence)

Third means, well, “hole” (but also socket)

As a combination of first and second we have “net line” - the Internet, or really any interconnected net like a power grid. Third doesn’t need an explanation, I think.

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- Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Kind of interesting that both English and Chinese ended up describing the internet as a form of “net”
  
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  - feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Probably a calque of some sort.
    
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  - abbotsbury@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Well, it makes sense when you think about how it describes the same concept.
    
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stebo02@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

Do they need to make a new symbol every time something new is invented?

I mean it’s exactly the same as inventing a new word whenever something new is invented. It’s usually derived from already existing words and so are the symbols.

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