  Socrates’ proposed answer fills the very extensive central section of the dialogue. In short (for to say it at length would exceed the capacity of this article), names are appropriate to their objects in so far as they describe what they are. According to a long series of etymologies proposed by Socrates, the Greek vocabulary itself, when suitably decoded, is an elaborate set of descriptions of what each named item is. To continue with the example already mentioned, the Greek word for ‘man’, anthrôpos, according to Socrates appears to break down into anathrôn ha opôpe, ‘one who reflects on what he has seen’ (399c). That is, the species which uniquely possesses both eyesight and intelligence has been given a name which acknowledges precisely that distinguishing combination.