摘要
文章在大范围语料调查的基础上讨论了现代汉语口语中常见的用在“永无出头之日”“终于熬出头了”这一类语境中“出头”一词的历史。这个汉语固有词语的本义是“人或动物伸出或露出脑袋”。从本义的“出头”到现代汉语一般“脱困”义的“出头”,其间经历了两次与“来源”有关的变化。第一次,因为出现在中古译经中的一则印度佛教寓言中,而这个寓言在唐代被本土僧人化用,“出头”产生了“脱离苦海”“脱离地狱”的佛教特定意义,这是脱困义“出头”的远源。第二次,从宋代到明代,佛教语“出头”分别经历了文言世俗化和白话世俗化,产生出世俗化了的文言的脱困义“出头”和白话的脱困义“出头”;而后者就是现代汉语口语脱困义“出头”的近源。从更宏观的角度看,脱困义“出头”的源流史,就是汉语中成百上千源于翻译佛经和佛教汉语的词语历史发展过程的一个缩影,在某种程度上也是印度佛教和佛教文化本土化过程的一个缩影。
This corpus-based study traces the history of a frequently used term chūtóu 出 头 in modern spoken Chinese,usually presented in sentences such as yǒngwú chūtóu zhīirì 永无出头之日( literally,the day that [someone]can stick his/her head out will never come;Figuratively,someone will never have a chance to get out of a predicament) or zhōngyú áo chūtóu le 终于熬出头了( literally,[someone] can stick his/her head out ultimately [after years of torment];Figuratively,[someone]finally escapes from misery after years of torment). The original meaning of this term is "people or animals sticking out or showing their heads ";however,in modern Chinese,its connotation has been altered to "being out of a predicament ". From the original meaning to the contemporary definition,this word went through two phases of alteration. First,the local monks in Tang dynasty,combing the usage of chūtóu in the Chinese translation of an ancient Indian Buddhist tale,assigned it a new meaning,viz.,"escaping from the sea of bitterness/ocean of suffering"or "getting out of hell". This connotation is also the remote source of chūtóu with the meaning of "being out of a predicament". Second,through the secularization of classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese from the Song dynasty to the Ming dynasty,the usage of chūtóu with the meaning of "being out of a predicament "is expanded from the Buddhist context to a general secularized classical and vernacular Chinese context. This is also known as the near source of the modern Chinese chūtóu. From a broader perspective,the history of the term chūtóu epitomizes the historical development of hundreds of thousands of Chinese terms derived from the translation of Indian Buddhist scriptures and related documents. To some extent,it also epitomizes the process of localization of Indian Buddhism and Buddhist culture.
出处
《辞书研究》
2020年第5期11-35,125,126,共27页
Lexicographical Studies
关键词
脱困义“出头”
来源
印度寓言
翻译佛经
文言
白话
世俗化
origin of the term chūtóu with the meaning of being out of a predicament
Indian tales
Chinese translation of Buddhist literature
classical Chinese
vernacular Chinese
secularization
popularization
