新名詞之戰：清末嚴復譯語典和製漢語的競赛

The War of Neologisms: The Competition between the Newly Translated Terms Invented by Yan Fu and by the Japanese in the Late Qing

黄克武(Max K. W. Huang)

《近代史研究所集刊》 62期 (2008/12) Pp. 1-42

https://doi.org/10.6353/BIMHAS.200812.0001

摘要

清末大量的日譯新名詞（亦稱「東語」、「和製漢语」）随著翻譯書刊傅入中國，造成重大的文化衝擊。面對日譯新名詞的入侵，中國的官員、學者與學生，例如張之洞、嚴復、林紓、章炳麟、彭文祖等人，都封之大加批判。其中翻譯大师嚴復尤其努力地鑄造新詞或修改和製漢語以為肆應。這一場競争從清末延續到民初，至1920年代勝負已判，日譯新名詞可谓得勝。本文描寫嚴復譯語日譯新名詞對抗的過程，而以1903年出版的《新爾雅》到1911年刊行的《普通百科新大辭典》作為考察指標；《新爾雅》中仍收錄不少嚴復譯語，然至《普通百科新大辭典》，日譯新名詞則取得壓倒性的勝利。文中討論的嚴譯詞彙包括：音譯的翻譯語，如「拓都」與「么匿」、「涅伏」、「邏輯」、「烏託邦」等；義譯的翻譯語，如「官品」、「部勒」、「群學」、「名學」、「天直」、「民直」等。這些嚴譯詞彙幾乎都不敵日譯新名詞。嚴譯的失敗也涉及其所主持的「編訂名詞館」，在名詞統一工作上成效不彰。清末新名詞之戰顯示荀子所說的「名無固宜，約之以命，約定俗成謂之宜，……名有固善，徑易而不拂，謂之善名」一語具有深刻的洞察力。嚴譯詞彙有不少「善名」，遺憾的是在各種因素影響下，終未能「約定俗成」；儘管如此，它們卻具體地揭示了翻譯的標準，足資借鑒。

關鍵字

和製漢語 ； 張之洞 ； 新名詞 ； 編訂名詞館 ； 嚴復

並列摘要

In the late Qing, many newly translated Chinese terms invented by the Japanese were imported into China with tremendous cultural effect. Facing this terminological invasion, Chinese officials, scholars, and students such as Zhang Zhidong, Yan Fu, Lin Shu, Zhang Binglin, and Peng Wenzu harshly criticized the new vocabulary. Moreover, some Chinese scholars, especially the famous translator Yan Fu, created new terms to replace the Japanese neologisms. This gave rise to a competition that lasted from the late Qing to the early Republican period. Yet by the 1920s, most of the terms that had originated in Japan had been incorporated into the Chinese language at the expense of the terms created by Yan and other Chinese.
This article describes the competition and discusses the abandoned neologisms invented by Yan Fu. These terms included transliterated terms such as ”tuodu”(拓都, total), ”yaoni” (么匿, unit), ”niefu” (涅伏, nerve), ”luoji” (邏輯, logic), ”wutuobang” (烏託邦, utopia), as well as newly invented translations such as ”guanpin” (官品, organic), ”bule” (部勒, organization), ”qunxue” (群學, sociology), ”mingxue” (名學 logic), and ”tianzhi” and ”minzhi” (天直、民直, rights).
Most of the terms invented by Yan gave way to Japanese neologisms. The failure of Yan's own neologisms was also seen in his failure to unify translated terms when he was the head of the Office for the Compilation of Translated Terms in the Ministry of Education. The competition between the terms invented by Yan and by the Japanese indicates that Xun Zi's view on ”the correct use of names” is still insightful. Xun Zi noted, ”Names have no intrinsic 'appropriateness.' They are bound to something by agreement in order to name it. The agreement becomes fixed, the custom is established, and it is called 'appropriate.'.... Names do not have intrinsic good qualities. When a name is direct, easy, and not at odd with the thing, it is called a 'good name.” There were some ”good names” in Yan's translations, but unfortunately they were not fixed by public agreement. Nevertheless, his ways of creating new terms revealed proper standards of translation.

並列關鍵字

Yan Fu ； Zhang Zhidong ； Japanese neologisms ； Office for the Compilation of Translated Terms

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