“What is the relation between names and

the named
what they name

?” [)| –] Well, what is it? Look at ˇthe our lang[au|ua]ge game ([3|4]), or ˇat some otherˇ language game; you can that's where you'll see there what this relation consists in. This this relation may, [a|A]mong various other things, consist also in the fact that hearing the name calls up an image of the thing named in our minds,, and it ˇsometimes consists among other things also in the fact that the name is written on the thing named, or that

the name
it

is it uttered when the thing named is pointed t[l|o].
But what does is the word “this” ˇa name ˇof in ˇthe language game (9), or

or the word “that” in the ostensive explanation “th[at|is] is called …”? Well, if you don't want to

give rise to
introduce

ˇproduce confusion it is best not to say that these words name anything. – And, curiously enough, it was once said of the word “this” that it is the real name. Ever[e|y]thing else that we call “name” is so ˇbeing a name only in an inexact, appro[c|x]imate sense.
This curious view has its origin in a tendency to sublimate – as we might call it – the logic of our language. The proper answer to it is: [W|w]e call widely different things “names”; the word “name” character[s|i]ses many different sort[f|s]s kinds of uses of a word[,|s], related to one another each in many different ways; – but among these kinds of uses is not that of the word “this”.
It is true that we often,

e.g.
for instance

in ˇgiving an ostensi[c|v]e defi[t|n]i[o|t]ion, point to

a
the

thing named and in doing so pronounce

it's
the

name. And similarly we pronounce

–
,

e.g.
for instance

in an ostensive definition

–
,

the word “this” as we in pointing to

a
the

thing. And the word “this” and a name ˇcan often

stand in the same context
have the same syntax

: we say “Fetch this”, and also “Fetch Paul”. – But it is precisely one of the characteristic features of a name that

it
its meaning

(2015–) Wittgenstein Source Bergen Nachlass Edition (WS-BNE). Edited by the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen under the direction of Alois Pichler. In: Wittgenstein Source, curated by Alois Pichler (2009–) and Joseph Wang-Kathrein (2020–). (N) Bergen: WAB.