The Etymology of "Talent" and the Comparison of "Origins" Between Chinese and Western Views on Talent

Abstract

The difference between Chinese and Western views on talent is essentially the difference of their history and culture. In ancient China, the word referring to talent that meaned people stored for use like timber preceded the one that meaned people having ability in a particular field”. The former first appeared in the Warring States of the Pre-Qin Dynasty in the form of non-word phrase structure. In the early Western Han Dynasty, evolving from a verb phrase to a fixed noun, it gradually had the meaning close to that of “talent” in modern Chinese. In the West, the earliest etymology of talent was “daimon” in ancient Greek, which was directly translated into "genius" by Latin translators. The word “talent” in English comes from the Greek word “talanton”. The word “talent” in modern English should be a combination of “daimon” and “talanton”. By exploring the social concepts related to talent in the early stage of human civilization between China and the West, some common points of universal significance are found in the comparison of the differences. Keywords—talent; etymology; Chinese and Western; comparison of similarities and differences