If language is something that interests you, I would check out Radiolab's episode on words. Part of the episode is about a deaf man that grows up with no language and learns it later in life. The breakthrough moment he had was when he realized that everything had a name.

Part of what (I think) you're referencing may also deal with the Platonic Forms. Which is to say that "out there" somewhere there is a True version of a tree and that everything we call a tree is just a subpar reflection of that ideal state (along with tables, honor, energy, etc).