Abstracts
Résumé
Les Athapascans de l’Alaska et du Nord-Ouest canadien utilisent les mêmes termes pour désigner d’une part les insectes et tout ce qui grouille et, d’autre part, les monstres aquatiques ou nocturnes, les géants mythiques, les esprits et les fantômes, ainsi que les gens-des-bois, êtres sauvages qui hantent la forêt subarctique. À première vue, il est difficile de trouver, entre ces diverses créatures, un lien qui justifierait une taxonomie aussi ambiguë, même en tenant compte des particularités des systèmes de classification athapascans. Une comparaison des créatures en question révèle des indices inattendus qui permettent une hypothèse : toutes ces créatures entretiennent un lien avec l’espace chamanique et mythique (ink’on), y compris les insectes qui feraient déjà directement partie de cet espace parce qu’ils étaient présents au début des temps mythiques, avant l’émergence de l’humanité. Des études linguistiques pourraient confirmer le lien sémantique entre ink’on et insectes.
Mots-clés :
- Athapascans septentrionaux,
- dénés,
- insectes,
- taxonomie,
- chamanisme
Abstract
Northern Athapaskan people use the same terms, translated as “bug”, to designate insects, worms and snake-like animals, giant beings, night monsters, ghosts and spirits of various kinds and “bushmen or brushmen” (wild beings known throughout the subarctic forest). It is difficult to find a common ground justifying putting all these creatures in the same class, even while taking into account the particularities of Athapaskan taxonomy. Comparing these various creatures reveals connections that allow us a new hypothesis: These creatures share a direct connection with the shamanic and mythical space (ink’on), including the insects as they already belong to that space as a result of their presence in the earliest mythical times ruled by oneiric and creative powers before the existence of human beings. Linguistic studies could confirm the semantic link between ink’on and insects.
Keywords:
- Northern Athapaskan,
- Dene,
- insects,
- taxonomy,
- shamanism
Resumen
Los Atabascanos de Alaska y del noroeste de Canadá usan los mismos términos para referirse, por un lado, a los insectos y todo lo que se arrastra y, por otro lado, a los monstruos acuáticos o nocturnos, los gigantes míticos, los espíritus y los fantasmas, así como también a la gente de los bosques, criaturas salvajes que acechan en el bosque subártico. A primera vista, es difícil encontrar un vínculo entre estas diversas criaturas que justifique una taxonomía tan ambigua, incluso teniendo en cuenta las particularidades de los sistemas de clasificación Atabascanos. Una comparación de las criaturas en cuestión revela pistas inesperadas que llevan a una hipótesis: todas estas criaturas mantienen un vínculo con el espacio chamánico y mítico (ink’on), incluyendo a los insectos que ya formarían parte directamente de este espacio porque estaban presentes al comienzo de los tiempos míticos, antes del surgimiento de la humanidad. Los estudios lingüísticos podrían confirmar el vínculo semántico entre el ink’on y los insectos.
Palabras clave:
- Atabascanos septentrionales,
- Dene,
- insectos,
- taxonomía,
- chamanismo
Appendices
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