Stephen > Status Update

"A desire to believe (despite all evidence to the contrary) that words are at bottom the names of things is what makes the translator's mission seem so impossible".
....Am I being ridiculous, or does this make no sense? what the hell does "words are at bottom the names of...." mean?! Does Bellos mean "at least" / "deep down" / "basically"? Surely you can't say "words are at bottom"...