L`étymologie graphique et l`héritage des concepts fondamentaux de

Breaking Down the Barriers, 1051-1057
2013-1-050-049-000372-1
L’étymologie graphique et l’héritage des concepts
fondamentaux de la culture chinoise
Shun-chiu Yau (游順釗)
CNRS-EHESS-INALCO
Cet article réfute l’étymologie, idéologiquement orientée, du caractère he 和
‘harmonie’ diffusée par les médias chinois, selon laquelle il serait composé des
graphies pour ‘céréale’ 禾 et ‘population’ 口. Il expose l’état de la question sur
l’origine graphique de ce caractère et montre que, selon tous les travaux qui lui ont
été consacrés, sa forme originale est en réalité celle d’un instrument de musique et
que l’idée d’harmonie sociale qui en dérive procède de celle de polyphonie
musicale.
Mots clé: etymologie, clé culturelle
L’étymologie graphique et l’héritage des concepts fondamentaux de la culture chinoise
Graphic Etymology and Heritage of Fundamental Concepts
of the Chinese Culture
Shun-chiu Yau
CNRS-EHESS-INALCO
This article disproves the ideologically motivated etymology of the character
he 和 “harmony” as publicized in the Chinese press, according to which the
character is regarded as consisting of two parts, he 禾 “grains on stalk”, foodstuffs,
and kou 口 “mouth”, the populace. In other words, harmony is construed to mean
letting the whole population have enough to eat. This is an attempt to distort its
graphical etymology so as to fit a specific ideological pattern, thus degrading the
notion of social harmony to the mere satisfaction of a biological need. The fact is
that in Oracular Bones, the present character 和 had a radical 龠 representing a
wind instrument with arranged tubes; the meaning was extended to harmony in
sound and music. Evidently the people in the Western Zhou Dynasty had, that
early on, derived from harmony in sound and music the following philosophy:
“When sounds are all the same, then there is no music to hear. When colours are
all the same, then there is no design.”
Key words: etymology, cultural key
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