人體各部位名稱在語言上的應用

Usage of Body Part Terminology

本文的主旨在討論從人身體的觀點所發展出來的知識體系和語言現象。世界各種語言，方位的指標(template)包括天體、地景、人體，而以人體的方位詞為最多。主要的數詞系統都是由人體發展而來。身體名稱的轉移都遵循這幾個基本原則：（一）從上到下，（二）從前到後，（三）從部分到全部。通常是以上面的部位為高級，而以下面的為低級或不雅。人體部位名稱常擴展到指稱其他有生命或無生命的東西，應用的原則包括形狀、大小、功能、相對位置等幾個因素。但也有少數從其他的名稱（如器具、親屬稱謂）擴展到人體名稱。人體各部名稱在語言的應用可說無所不在。漢字許多部首就是身體部位的名稱，共有24個部位名稱當部首。許多人體部位的名稱都屬於基本詞彙。以上種種都可以說明人體名稱在語言使用的重要性。人體名稱的用法常是隱喻的，而且絕大部分的人體名稱都有這種用法，這就大大地擴增人體名稱的使用範圍了。本文把隱喻用法暫作分類，並列舉實例。

The human body serves as a conceptual template for much of our understanding about the outside world. As an example, the main types of numeral systems, decimal and quinary, are developed from the number of fingers on each hand. The transfer of body part terminology follows these basic principles: (1) from up to down, (2) from front to back, and (3) from part to whole. The human body part terminology is extended to apply to animate and inanimate objects, as based on similarity in shape, size, and function. The usage of body part terminology is ubiquitous in language. Many of the body part terms belong to the basic vocabulary, and 24 out of 192 radicals in a Chinese dictionary have to do with body parts. Moreover, the usage of body part terminology is mostly metaphorical, and most terms for body parts have such a usage.