But let's get back to the relationship between air and light, ʔowR in Hebrew, which we find in the French expression « avoir l’aiR » (to appear). Today, we all have screens that we can adjust using three parameters: ConTRaST, CoLoR and BRiGhTness. Of these three parameters, contrast is obviously the most important for visual perception. It allows us to make out shapes by SePaRating light and DaRK areas.

The archetype of contrast is the STReaK or the STRiPe, Raie in French, that separates. The ReTiNa weaved at the back of our eYes derives its etymological origin from the Latin ReTS, which means net, network, and which is also related to the word RaRe. What is rare, like the meshes of the net, is what stands out visually by contrast, and has always been highly eRotic.

In English, for example, the Roe is a type of DeeR - the DeeR was a key species in Europe's Upper Paleolithic. The Roe DeeR is « the STReaKed one ». The « Ra » sound, with its separating meaning, can also be found in the SKiRTs of the woods, « l’oRée du bois » in French, which comes from the Latin oRa meaning edge, FRiNGe, ShoRe, BoRDeR, boundary. Or in the Greek oRos with the same meaning, and from which comes hoRiZon - that insurmountable STReaK.

Children know intuitively that the STRoKe is connected to light, as they draw the sun with strokes called RaYs, just as the Egyptians before them represented the sun, RO in Egyptian, with rays decorated with hands. And because the « Ra » sound is essential to visual perception, “DRaW a stroke, a line” in Hebrew is YaRah.

Lastly, if the R separates what can be seen from what cannot, what can be heard from what cannot, in short what can be perceived from what cannot, it also obviously separates time. Between the time of today and the time of yeSTeRday. Between hours ôRa in Greek, YeaRs and events ʔeRowʕa in Hebrew. And of course, the R separates the Paleolithic eRa from the Mytholithic Era, the Era of the word, the Era of air and of the R.

Indeed, the sound « Ra » expresses the idea of separation that creates meaning. Whether, olfactory or visual – this separation may also be material, when we CuT by TRaCing a line. In Greek, this idea of cutting is found, for instance, in Raiô, which means to BReaK, aiRô, which means to BReaK camp, to RaiSe aNChoR, to ReMoVe, to BReaK, aRè, which means to DeSTRoy - from which aRèS, the god of WaR, probably derives - oR aRoô, which means to plow, to HaRRow or to RaKe. The plow is what TReNChes the eaRTh - and it HuRTs her a lot, by the way, but that's another matter for another video.

And above all, separation is found in the prefix aR-, which conveys the idea of the aRTiCuLation of two separate PaRTs, as in aRṬRoN for articulation, aRMos for assembly, joint, or in aRMa, CaRT. Because indeed, since the Palaeolithic, weapons and aRMs, and aRT in general, have been haftings - we'll come back to this later on.

Speaking of separation, does this ring a bell? Don't you remember my video about ShaRing last year? I told you I'd be coming back to the Ta and Ra sounds in BeRiyT and BeTaR, the covenant of the PaRTs, or the PaRTy of the PaRTies. Well, here we are, one year later - I always stick to my word.

Now, for those of you just tuning in, in that video I told the story of how, in the autumn of 2021, while researching the origin of the word SymBoL, I came across the SuMBoLoN, an object that could be broken to symbolize a ConTRaCT. The amazing thing is that, at the heart of BeRiyT and BeTaR, the covenant of the parts and, of course, of the TowRah, lies the « Ra » sound that embodies both the creation of meaning as well as the breaking and severing at the heart of the SuMBoLoN and of the symbolism of sharing.

This is what I call the fractal aspect of language: at each linguistic layer, starting with myths, then themes, then sentences, then words, then sounds, we keep on finding the same patterns and structures - especially when it comes to sharing and cooperation, which were foundational to our species.

Now you understand why, as I mentioned in my second to last video, « ShaRa », the song sewn into the (bohemian) RhaPSoDy, is a bit like the polymer and the monomer. You are not getting it, are you? It’s obvious though: polymer and monomer come from MéRos in Greek, meaning PaRT and portion.