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Ideas of Nature in East Asian Lands

  • Chapter
Nature and Identity in Cross-Cultural Perspective

Part of the book series: The GeoJournal Library ((GEJL,volume 48))

Abstract

The term nature is known to everybody, but the concept of nature is hard to define. Many different words for it are to be found in the languages of the Far East, such as Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. The English word nature is derived from the Latin natura, which means “birth,” “origin,” “natural constitution or quality of a thing,” and that in turn is derived from the verb nasci, to be born. Nature in common English use has fundamental meanings, as follows:

  1. (l)

    the essential character of a thing; quality or qualities that make something what it is; essence;

  2. (2)

    inborn characteristics; innate disposition; inherent tendencies of a person;

  3. (3)

    kind; sort; type; as when we say “things of that nature.”

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Notes

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Authors
  1. Hajime Nakamura
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University College Dublin, Belfield, Ireland

    Anne Buttimer (Professor and Chair) (Professor and Chair)

  2. The Center for Policy Analysis, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 02747, N. Dartmouth, MA, USA

    Luke Wallin (Professor of English and Senior Research Associate) (Professor of English and Senior Research Associate)

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© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Nakamura, H. (1999). Ideas of Nature in East Asian Lands. In: Buttimer, A., Wallin, L. (eds) Nature and Identity in Cross-Cultural Perspective. The GeoJournal Library, vol 48. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2392-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2392-3_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5195-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2392-3

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