Une nébuleuse sémantique : « le vide » en français et diverses langues

Résumé 0

This contribution explores the complex semantics of "vacuum" ("void" / "blank" / "gap" / "emptiness") in French and in various languages. It first examines the paradoxical aspect of this concept through its unsteady, wavering antonymy, focusing the illustrations (terminology, phrases, sentences) in two distant cultural areas and periods of time : Western contemporary physics on the one hand and traditional Chinese Taoism on the other. The research follows by a diachronic and synchronic outline of the notion, from Indo-European roots to uses in French. Several semantic fields are involved in its development : these are sketched out with particular references to the history of French. In order to shed more light on the concept, additional potential synonyms and antonyms are put forward, as well as metaphors, through various languages, and the material appears to be rich and relevant. Several symbolic representations of the notion, which tend to confirm its paradoxical character, are briefly discussed in the conclusion followed by a short summary of findings.