Full Idea
It was necessary that man should find some external sensible signs, whereby those invisible ideas might be made known to others; ..words, then, in their primary or immediate signification stand for nothing but the ideas in the mind of him that uses them.
Gist of Idea
Words were devised as signs for inner ideas, and their basic meaning is those ideas
Source
John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 3.02.01-2)
Book Reference
Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.405
A Reaction
This very unpopular theory could be defended. Note Locke's qualification about 'primary signification'. His Wittgensteinian opponents go on about community or communication, but maybe these are parasitic on the initial grunt referring to an inner idea?