본과 말은 중국철학사에서 대표적인 철학적 쌍 개념이다. 그럼에도 불구하고 지금까지 학계에서는 중국 근세철학에서의 본말관에 대한 연구는 많이 했지만 중국 고대철학에서의 본말관에 대한 연구는 거의 하지 않았다. 따라서 이 논문에서는 중국 고대 때 본말관의 원형을 찾아보는데 초점을 맞추었다. 본격적으로 철학적 사유가 전개되기 이전 시대에 본말관이 어떻게 전개되었는가를 살펴보기 위하여 중국 상고시대에 대한 역사책을 분석의 자료로 삼았다. 구체적으로 말하면 『상서(서경)』, 『춘추좌전』, 『국어』 속에서 중국인들이 처음으로 사용한 본말의 용례를 찾아내어 분석했다. 그 결과 『상서』에서는 간헐적으로 쓰였던 이 말이 『춘추좌전』과 『국어』에서는 아주 많이 사용되었음을 알 수 있다. 본과 말이라는 단어는 처음에 나무에서 파생되었다. 본은 나무의 아랫 부분인 뿌리와 줄기를 가리키고, 말은 나무의 윗 부분인 가지와 잎을 가리키는 평범한 말이었다. 세월의 흐름에 따라 학술적 의미가 더해져서 근본과 말단이라는 학문적 용어로 정착되었다. 또한 이 낱말들에 가치 개념이 첨가되어 근본은 긍정적이고 좋은 것, 말단은 부정적이고 나쁜 것이라는 의미를 갖게 되었다. 그러나 가끔은 그 의미가 반대로 사용되는 경우도 있지만 그런 용례는 많지 않다. 낱말의 빈도수는 본 한 글자만 사용된 경우가 가장 많고, 본과 말이 함께 쓰이거나 본말을 붙여서 사용한 경우가 그 다음이고, 말 한 글자만 사용한 경우가 가장 적다. 그리고 본말론의 적용 분야는 정치와 관련된 것이 가장 많고, 윤리와 관련된 것도 조금 있으며, 순수하게 나무와 관련된 소박한 것도 있다. 이 논문은 중국 고대 때 본과 말이 사용된 용례를 분석하는데 주안점을 두었으므로 본말론의 사상적 내용에 관해서는 크게 관심을 갖지 않았다. 본말론의 사상적 측면에 관해서는 차후의 논문에서 다루려고 한다.

I think that 'essence and end' is one of the representative pair terms to make striking contrasts in Chinese philosophy. Scholars have tried to investigate its meanings and uses in many ways and their results were a lot. But there are almost few and rare about it in ancient China. So in this paper I'd like to unveil the very origin and root of this term. To achieve this I analyzed the meaning and the use of 'essence and end' in ancient Chinese historical book like Shujing, Chunqiuzuoshizhuan, Guoyu. The term 'essence and end' seems to have derived from a tree in origin. It was originated to refer to the parts of a tree. The essence stood for under parts of a tree like roots and stems. And the end was to describe upper parts of a tree like branches and leaves without any metaphoric meanings and usages. But in the progress of the uses and usages of them, people added more philosophical and academic meanings and metaphors. And also on the course people valued the essence positive and good, the end negative and bad, and they were sometimes vice versa in some books. According to an analysis about frequency of the meanings and uses in this paper, the term essence alone was used the most frequently. 'The essence and the end' together in two words or 'the essence-end' together in a word was used the second most frequently, and the end alone was not used frequently. And according to an analysis about context and application of the words, essence and end, political contexts were the most, and ethical contexts were the second, and to refer purely to a tree were the last. In this paper, I have tried to analyze some meanings, usages, contexts, and frequencies of the term, essence and end, in ancient China. For more sophisticated usages and contexts, and for the conception of political theory of essence-end, I will have tried to disclose in another paper.

I think that 'essence and end' is one of the representative pair terms to make striking contrasts in Chinese philosophy. Scholars have tried to investigate its meanings and uses in many ways and their results were a lot. But there are almost few and rare about it in ancient China. So in this paper I'd like to unveil the very origin and root of this term. To achieve this I analyzed the meaning and the use of 'essence and end' in ancient Chinese historical book like Shujing, Chunqiuzuoshizhuan, Guoyu. The term 'essence and end' seems to have derived from a tree in origin. It was originated to refer to the parts of a tree. The essence stood for under parts of a tree like roots and stems. And the end was to describe upper parts of a tree like branches and leaves without any metaphoric meanings and usages. But in the progress of the uses and usages of them, people added more philosophical and academic meanings and metaphors. And also on the course people valued the essence positive and good, the end negative and bad, and they were sometimes vice versa in some books. According to an analysis about frequency of the meanings and uses in this paper, the term essence alone was used the most frequently. 'The essence and the end' together in two words or 'the essence-end' together in a word was used the second most frequently, and the end alone was not used frequently. And according to an analysis about context and application of the words, essence and end, political contexts were the most, and ethical contexts were the second, and to refer purely to a tree were the last. In this paper, I have tried to analyze some meanings, usages, contexts, and frequencies of the term, essence and end, in ancient China. For more sophisticated usages and contexts, and for the conception of political theory of essence-end, I will have tried to disclose in another paper.

essence and end, ancient China, tree, politics, morals