GNU Emacs Manual - Commands Go to the first , previous , next , last section, table of contents . This manual is full of passages that tell you what particular keys do. But Emacs does not assign meanings to keys directly. Instead, Emacs assigns meanings to named commands , and then gives keys their meanings by binding them to commands.
Every command has a name chosen by a programmer.
The bindings between keys and commands are recorded in various tables called keymaps . See section Keymaps . It is the command next-line that is programmed to move down vertically. C-n has this effect because it is bound to that command. Rebinding keys is a common method of customization.