Tag: DPRK

The etymology of the term ‘人蔘’ (Ren Shen) is interesting and complex and well worth exploring, as this is the term Westerners are routinely using when referring to ‘Ginseng’. The first ideogram ‘人’ (ren2) and refers to a ‘human-being’. This Ideogram is often associated with ‘們’ (men2) – meaning ‘us’ or ‘fellow people gathered behind the safety of a gate’ – and ‘閄‘ (huo4) – meaning a ‘door or gate in-front of a human-being’ or ‘a human-being protected by a structure or institution’, etc.