But what d[e|o]es it mean, that we can't explain (i.e. describe) these elements but only name them? Th[at|is] m[g|i]ght mean, say, that the description of a complex, if this complex consist[e|s]d[,| (]in a limiting case[,|)] of only one element square, is simply the name of the coloured square. // This might mean, say, that when a complex consists, in a limiting case, of only one square, then its description is simply the name of

that
the

coloured square.

One
We

might say here – although this easily leads to all sorts of philosophical supers[i|t]itions – that a sign [

1
2

|“]r”, or “[s|b] b” etc., may sometimes be a word and sometimes a sentence. But whether it [“| ‘]is a word or a sentence[”| ’] depends on the situation in which it is uttered or written. If ˇe.g. A has to describe for B complexes [f|o]f coloure[s|d] squares and if he uses here the word “r”

by itself
alone

, then we may say that the word is here a description – a sentence. But if ˇe.g. he ˇis memoris[es|ing], say, the words and their what they meanings, or if he is teaching

someone else
another

the use of the words and utters them in connection with ostensive teaching while giving with the appropriate gesture, then we shall not say that they are sentences here. In this situation the word “r”, for instance, is not a description; you are nam[e|ing] an element◇ with it, : – but it ˇthat's why it would be st[a|r]ange to say on that account here th[t|a]t the element can only be named. Naming and describing, in fact, are not on the same level: naming is a preparation for describing. When you have With In [[n|N]|n]am[ed|ing] something youch we haven' n[o|']t haven't yet made a move in the language game, – an[d|y] more than you' have made a move in

in a chess game by setting a putting a pieceˇ on the board. We may say: with the naming by giving of a thing ˇa name nothingch ha' yet been done. It hasn't even yet a name, – except in the game. Th[at|is] is also what Frege meant by saying that a word has meaning only in

the context of
its connection with

a sentence.

(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.