DOUĂ LEXEME CONEXE: NATURĂ ȘI VEGETAL ÎN FILOSOFIA LUI CIORAN
TWO RELATED LEXEMES: NATURE AND VEGETABLE IN CIORAN'S PHILOSOPHY

Author(s): Simona Constantinovici
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Romanian Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Editura Universităţii Vasile Goldiş
Keywords: Cioran; philosophy; nature; vegetal; lexis
Summary/Abstract: In Emil Cioran’s philosophy, two key terms, nature and vegetal, create complex networks of meaning. Identifying the contexts in which these related language units appear and situating them within the horizon of predilected semantic fields constitute preliminary stages of this study, followed by an analysis from a stylistic perspective. Two criteria will be important: the frequency and arrangement of lexemes at the phrase level. Vegetal is not, by lexicographical definition, a philosophical term. If we were to certify it according to this criterion, it would be placed in a completely different configuration, which is eminently related to botany and all the subcategories generated by this specialized framework. The association of vegetal with lexemes that define abstract realities, such as aspiration, longing, melancholy, nostalgia, regret, and death, constantly engages Cioran’s discourse on the axis of semantic contrast. Nature, on the other hand, with which the lexeme vegetal is associated ab origine, has created, starting with Aristotle, a vast history. The polysemic character of this word transforms it into a fundamental unit. No philosophical vocabulary could ignore a functional element that underlies all things. Nature is of „ontic orientation”, it is „essence” (of things), a generic substance, a creative impulse. Martin Heidegger considered it „the founding word of inaugural thought” (Cassin 2020, 827). In his early writings, Emil Cioran speaks of the „intrinsic nature of being” (Cioran I CA, 2012, 194) or invokes the existence of „dimensions of nature in the soul” (Cioran I AG 2012, 851). Therefore, what will result from this endeavor could constitute a true addendum to the already existing Dictionary of Cioranian Terms.

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