和製漢語與現代漢語的交融：「簡單」一詞的語源研究

The Fusion of Wasei-Kango and Modern Chinese: A Study on the Etymology of the Word簡單Jiandan

漢語雙音節複合詞的來源及其語義演變脈絡一直是語言學界重視的研究課題。隨著時空演變，為了表達更新、更精確的觀念，雙音節詞因應而生。大部分的雙音節複合詞是由古代漢語的句法或短語而來。然而「簡單」一詞卻不以這種形式演變而來，而是自晚清西學東漸，由日本的西學翻譯與和製漢語而來的新詞。本文討論的「簡單」便是在這時期為「表達新義」而出現的複合詞。釐清「簡單」的產生是源自中國的新造詞還是日本的和製漢語，有助於觀察近現代雙音節複合詞形成的原因及中日語彙交流的情況。作者透過梳理中日辭書中對西洋語言及西學的對譯情況，發現「簡單」一詞最早是為了翻譯荷蘭語eenvoudige，而後為了凸顯英語simply的only義，因而選用表達「簡易」義的「簡」字與表達「單單、只有」義的「單」作為構詞成分。最後，本文探悉「簡單」一詞在日語中與「簡短」為同義詞的原因，並分析反序複合詞「單簡／簡單」的構詞方式，希望能幫助學界進一步瞭解日語造詞與漢語的交互關係。

The origin and semantic evolution of Chinese disyllabic compound words have been an important research topic in linguistics. Over time, as society has evolved, there has been a need for new and more precise terminology, resulting in the emergence of bisyllabic words. The majority of these compound words are derived from syntactic phrases in ancient Chinese; however, the word簡單jiandan did not evolve in this way. Instead, it is a new word that originates from the translation of Western concepts during the late Qing Dynasty through Japan’s wasei-kango (Japanese-made Chinese word). This paper discusses the origin of the word簡單jiandan, which was coined during this period to“express new meanings”. Clarifying whether簡單jiandan is a newly coined word from Chinese or a wasei-kango borrowed from Japanese can help to observe the reasons for the formation of bisyllabic compound words in modern times, as well as the exchange of vocabulary between Chinese and Japanese. By examining the translations of Western languages and Western studies in Japanese-English and Chinese-English dictionaries, the authors find that簡單jiandan was originally used to translate the Dutch word“eenvoudige”. Later, in order to highlight the sense of“only”in the English word“simply”, the word簡單jiandan was constructed using the character簡jian to express“simple”and the character單dan to express“only”. Finally, the paper explores why簡單jiandan is synonymous with簡短jianduan in Japanese and analyzes the word formation of the reverse compound words簡單jiandan and單簡danjian, hoping to help scholars better understand the interaction between Japanese and Chinese vocabulary.