144、“起了名”表示认识它们的性质，这是因为古人将“名”理解为事物的本质，将“看见并按名称呼”理解为认识性质。这就是为何他们给儿女起名时，是按着名字所表示的事物来起的；因为每个名字都有某种独特事物在里面，以使他们能从名字并凭名字知道自己孩子的出身和性质；这在本书后面部分可以看出来，蒙主的神性怜悯，那时我们将论述雅各的十二个儿子。因此，既然名字暗含一个人的出身和性质，那么“按名称呼”就没有别的意思了。这在古人当中是一种惯常的说话方式，但人若不明白这一点，肯定想知道它们是否真的有这些含义。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]144. In regard to the idea that naming things means recognizing their nature, it needs to be realized that the ancients took a name to mean simply the essence of a thing, and seeing something and naming it to mean recognizing its nature.{*1} This was due to the fact that they gave their daughters and sons names with a relevant meaning. Every name had a unique element that indicated where people were from and what they were like. Explanations further on concerning Jacob's twelve sons will, by the Lord's divine mercy, demonstrate this.{*2} Since names, then, told where people were from and what they were like, that is exactly what naming something meant to those ancient people. Such a manner of speaking was familiar to them, and anyone who fails to understand it will be puzzled by the symbolism.
Footnotes:
{*1} The identity of a thing with its name was a central feature of ancient Semitic thought. In Hebrew, for instance, the word דָּבָר (dāḇār) can mean both "word" and "thing" (Brown, Driver, and Briggs 1996, under דָּבָר). The Babylonians as well saw the two as interwoven: "For the Babylonians, a thing does not exist unless it has a name; unless it has one, it is not known; it does not exist" (Contenau 1947, 127). [RS]
{*2} Elsewhere in Secrets of Heaven Swedenborg discusses both the literal and the inner meanings of the names of Jacob's twelve sons: Reuben (3861-3863), Simeon (3869-3872), Levi (3873-3877), Judah (3880-3881), Dan (3920-3923), Naphtali (3927-3928), Gad (3934-3935), Asher (3938-3939), Issachar (3956-3957), Zebulun (3960-3961), Joseph (3969), and Benjamin (4591-4592). [JSR]
Potts(1905-1910) 144
144. That to "call by name" signifies to know the quality, is because the ancients, by the "name" understood the essence of a thing, and by "seeing and calling by name" they understood to know the quality. The reason was that they gave names to their sons and daughters according to the things which were signified, for every name had something peculiar in it, from which, and by which, they might know the origin and the nature of their children, as will be seen in a future part of this work, when, of the Lord's Divine mercy, we come to treat of the twelve sons of Jacob. As therefore the names implied the source and quality of the things named, nothing else was understood by "calling by name." This was the customary mode of speaking among them, but one who does not understand this may wonder that such things should be signified.
Elliott(1983-1999) 144
144. As to 'calling by name' meaning recognizing their nature, it must be realized that the ancients understood nothing else by 'a name than the essential nature of a real thing, and by 'seeing and calling them by name' recognizing the nature of such. This was why they gave their sons and daughters names in keeping with the things that were meant by them; for there was something unique to every name, as a means of knowing the origin and nature of those children, as will also be seen later on where, in the Lord's Divine mercy, the twelve sons of Jacob are dealt with. Since therefore a name embodied a person's origin and nature nothing else was meant by 'calling by name'. This manner of speaking was customary among them; but anyone who does not understand is sure to wonder whether they do have these meanings.
Latin(1748-1756) 144
144. Quod 'vocare nomine' significet nosse quales sunt, sciendum quod antiqui per 'nomen' nihil aliud intellexerint quam essentiam rei; per 'videre et vocare nomine' nosse quales sunt: causa erat quod nomina inderent filiis et filiabus suis secundum ea quae significabantur; nam unicuivis nomini aliquid singulare fuit, ex quo et per quod nossent unde et quales, sicut etiam ex sequentibus ubi de duodecim filiis Jacobi, ex Divina Domini Misericordia, agendum, videbitur. Cum itaque nomini inerant unde essent et quales essent, per 'vocare nomine' nihil aliud intelligebant; talis locutio apud eos familiaris fuit, quam qui non intelligit, mirabitur quod ea significent.