「時」在《論》《孟》中的詞彙用法探析

An Analysis on the Lexical Semantics of “Shi” in Analects and Mengzi

先秦文獻中的「時」和「四時」之義隱含著「順序」的概念，因而許慎、段玉裁所闡述的「時」跟「四時」有春夏秋冬之舉例，又有歲月日刻之層次，換言之，上述概念反映出隨著時間的進行而變化、且井然有序的自然現象。本文在此基礎上對《論》《孟》中的「時」字詞彙語義用法深感興趣，並透過文獻整理來確認《說文》對「時」字之解釋，本文以《論語》、《孟子》為討論範圍，尋找「時」在此二部經典中出現的文例，並進行比較研究。經過本文分析，將二書中的「時」分為以下幾種用法。首先是名詞類的用法，可分為以下四種：1、「時」作為「四時」之義，屬「時令義」之用法；2、由「時」之「時令義」引申出的「時序義」用法；3、與「時令義」、「時序義」相比具更高偶然性的「時候義」；4、具無法預測性的「時機」義。其次是已逐漸發展出動詞特徵的非名詞用法。綜上所述，動詞性的用法應是在名詞性語義的充分發展之下進而產生出來的用法。

In the pre-Qin documents, “shi(時)” and “sishi(四時)” implied the concept of “regular pattern”, so the words “shi” and “sishi” were translated as spring-summer-autumn-winter and interpreted as time or season regular by Xu Shen(許慎) and Duan Yucai(段玉裁). Discussions above reflect a concept changing of “shi”, a natural phenomenon, that varies according to time regularly. In this paper, we think that the lexical semantics of “shi” in Analects and Mengzi could show the intuitive grasp of time regular either, so we inspected the explanation of Shuowen Jiezi(《說文解字》) to “shi”, and compared it with the semantics of “shi” in Analects and Mengzi. After discussion, “shi” in Analects and Mengzi could be classified into some lexical semantics below. Firstly, we discussed the nominal usages of “shi” in four parts: (1) “shi” was used as “sishi”, which means the regular seasonal order in one year; (2) “shi” was used as a meaning that the regular changes of time, which was with extended meaning than (1); (3) “shi” was used as a period of time, which is more irregular to the previous two; (4) “shi” was used as a semantic meaning of an opportunity, which is often unpredictable. Secondly, we discussed other uncommon usage of “shi”, which developed verbal features gradually. In summary, the verb “shi” should be an advanced form that fully developed from its nominal semantics.