A mystical “Candy on the tongue”, this December 29. According to the Little Robert, mystical, “concerns the practices, the beliefs aimed at a union between the human being and the divinity”. In a fascinating documentary on Emmanuel Carrère, the writer (available on Arte.tv), he specifies that he he is not an atheist, but an agnostic… However, the difference is not always obvious, it can even seem a little mysterious.
Besides, mystery and mysticism belong to the same family, and the first sense of mystery is also religious. A mystery is, first of all, a “rite, a secret religious cult”. And here, let’s go back the thread of words, what is religion? The dictionary defines it as the “recognition by human beings of a higher principle on which their destiny depends” or as a “system of beliefs and practices specific to a social group” (Le Robert).
Etymologically, the word comes from Latin religiospecialists fighting between those who believe that this religio comes from the verb religiouswho gave connect, and those who think that religio comes from legere“gather, collect, choose”, which gave our verb lire. In any case, connecting or reading are two origins that are very consistent with the idea that we can have of religion.
A silent E even in the masculine
To return to the atheist and the agnostic, the atheistit is, according to the Petit Laroussethe one “who denies the existence of God, of all divinity”. Spelling section, be careful, atheist is one of the words that takes a silent E, including in the masculine: an atheist, an atheist; here is an epicene word (which does not vary according to gender).
Atheist derives directly from the Greek atheos. Theos in Greek is the dieuit is the one that we find in theology, the “discipline which deals (…) with everything that touches the divine” and also in a number of first names of Greek origin (Theo in short, to begin with, which therefore means “god”, modestly, but there is also Théodore, “the gift of God”, or Théophile, “the one who loves God”).
The initial A in atheist is what we call a “private prefix”as in apatride (without a homeland), or aphone (without voice). In short, atheist is literally “without god”. Agnostic is a much more recent word: it was invented at the end of the 19th century, but based on Greek, always with this privative A at the beginning.
In Greek, agnostos means “unknown”. “The word [agnostique] qualifies, according to Historical dictionary of the French languagea person who considers that the absolute, and therefore any certain religious option, is inaccessible to man.” In short, to summarize, the atheist is sure that gods do not exist, while the agnostic judges that pronouncing on the question… is impossible.
By doing some research, we come across another synonym, less used, but ultimately very clear: areligious. We find the same privative A: areligieuxit is quite simply “without religion” or “which does not belong to any religion” (Larousse).
All these words start with this famous “Private”as if these realities could only be defined implicitly, in the negative. There is still a term in this sphere that does not start with an A: it is secularism. Secularism is, to use the definition of Petit Laroussethe “character of what is (…) independent of religious or partisan conceptions”.
Secular comes from the Greek laikos, meaning “the people”, quite simply. Attention, a layman can also be a believer : it’s just someone “who does not belong to the clergy” or, second meaning, a “partisan of secularism”.
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