In the beginning was the Word.

-John 1:1, King James Bible

I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word.

-Emily Dickinson, Letters

Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic.

-J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

It’s not hard to find sage quotes about words. It’s much harder to define them.

The American Heritage Dictionary tried: “A sound or a combination of sounds... that symbolizes and communicates a meaning....” Yet, we frequently utter communicative sounds like the indignant “psh,” the contemplative “hmm,” the pejorative “shh,” or the befuddled “mmm?” Are they words? Most would say no, yet they seem to satisfy the dictionary definition.

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy tried harder. They devoted ov

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