Jun 25, 2004 14:35
The big question, of course, is why did a word like nothing ever had the need to come out/arise from our mouths? (a hole in itself) The even more curios thing is that it seems to be a universal need to express this quaint but unfamliar ground which we seem to know little or nothing about it. (no pun intended). At least from the european perspective, this word is quite frecuent. We have examined here the words which have a similar meaning in spanish, swedish and of course english. What is it that has compelled us to name the unnameable? (even though it is done so in the most simple of manners) What is the urgency to grasp this phenomena which so intrigues us?
We have mentioned that this word predates the first milenia, nothing (888. OED). And it should not be surprising that if it stood up then there is no reason to believe that our ancestors have dealt with it in one way or another even before that, perhaps in the form of another word, such as deathor space.
But let us return to that earlier assumption. What was the need to name that which is unnameable? Surely it must be a need because there is profusely so much in the language about nothingness that it boggles the mind. In its spiritual sense nothing is akin to the inmaterial, we have at the very least suggested that.
Allow us to continue along this vein. The spiritual, because its origins seem to stem therefrom. Something not of this material world, however tautonic it may seem, is the clear opposition once the word is incanted. We will it (that which the word utters to) vanquished to the realm which is not of this one.
Supposing then that the word nothing, is a predecessor of evil. We assume therebey that nothing is a proto-malignant no-land. We cannot see it therefore the fear lets itself not wait. We are scared not to be seen in this world. What other greater fear is there for this material world then not to be seen? Hence the fight of good and evil can trace its roots to the word nothing and our fear thereby to find ourselves suddenly there, so in conclusion, I suggest that the word nothing be classified as a pre/proto form of evilness alien to us in this mortal coil.