Dirk:

The essay by Fenellosa (edited by Pound) has an extensive analysis of verbs
and nouns especially in the context of the Chinese ideograph.

I'll give you one quote which, perhaps, is germane to our discussion.

"A true noun, an isolated thing, does not exist in nature.  Things are only
the terminal point, or rather the meeting points, of actions, cross-sections
cut through actions, snapshots.  Neither can a pure verb, an abstract
motion, be possible in nature.  The eye sees noun and verb as one; things in
motion, motion in things, and so the Chinese conception tends to represent
them." (page 10)

Rick Seddon
McIntosh, NM