L`étymologie graphique et l`héritage des concepts fondamentaux de
Transcription
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 1057