The more complex and abstract the set of ideas attached to the word, the more difficult it is to come up with a competing set of ideas not associated with any word. The reason why the broadest, most intangible words of a language—qi or Tao, atman or soul—are often the most difficult to translate is that they are the result of so many different levels of conceptual building blocks, each of which has been assembled from a unique set of more basic concepts combined over generations by the speakers of that particular language.
Wow.difficult to create new concept for old words
