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by moandcompany 450 days ago
The company name of "Samsung" originates from the founder's admiration of Japanese companies such as Mitsubishi, known as "keiretsu" and their place in its economy; he hoped that his company would also endure as a shining symbol in the sky, like stars. Mitsubishi means three stars in Japanese language.

Samsung the company started as something resembling a dry goods market.

3 comments

I thought Mitsubishi was 三菱 for Three Diamonds? Seems to go better with their log.

Mitsuboshi, 三つ星, would I think be for three stars, particularly the stars of Orion's belt.

"According to Samsung's founder, the meaning of the Korean hanja Samsung (三星) is three stars."

https://news.samsung.com/global/20-things-you-didnt-know-abo...

菱 is "water chestnut", a nut that actually is spiky, the <> figures are a stylization of that.

菱形, that is, "water chestnut-shaped" is indeed used for what's called "diamond-shaped" in English, maybe hence the confusion.

Technically correct is the best kind of correct. Symbolically, in this context, they were seen as diamonds in the sky, aka stars :)
Pendant correction: The bishi in Mitsubishi translates more closely to rhombus or diamond.
pedant correction: pedant ;)
Maybe it was a deep cut pun: diamond pendant?
Brilliant, regardless.