Name
The Bencao Gangmu title, which Unschuld (1986:145) translates as "Materia Medica, Arranged according to Drug Descriptions and Technical Aspects," uses two Chinese compounds. Bencao (Pen-tsao; "roots and herbs; based on herbs, pharmacopeia, materia medica") combines ben (pen; 本 "root; origin; basis") and cao (tsao; 草 "grass; plant; herb"). Gangmu (Kang-mu; "detailed outline; table of contents") combines gang (kang; 綱 "main rope, hawser; main threads, essential principles") and mu (目 "eye; look; category, division").
The characters 綱 and 目 were later used as "class" and "order" respectively in biological classification.
Read more about this topic: Bencao Gangmu
Famous quotes containing the word name:
“Name any name and then remember everybody you ever knew who bore than name. Are they all alike. I think so.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“What is it? a learned man
Could give it a clumsy name.
Let him name it who can,
The beauty would be the same.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)