「狼披羊皮」：此熟語係源自《伊索寓言》還是《聖經》外來中譯詞？

四百年前，大批傳教士從西方來到中國，除了翻譯《聖經》（Bible），也翻譯不少其他西方著作。這些中譯本作品傳播、發酵，對譯入語言中文也產生了影響，促成現代白話文的演進，也帶來為數不少的熟語。《馬太福音》（Matthew）有這麼一段經文：「你們要防備假先知。他們到你們這裡來，外面披著羊皮，裡面卻是殘暴的狼」（《新標點和合本》，1988，馬太福音7：15）。不過，《伊索寓言》（Aesop's Fables）也有一則名為〈披著羊皮的狼〉的寓言。兩者看來皆與現代熟語「狼披羊皮」有關聯，或許就是此條熟語的出處了。本研究爬梳17世紀起的《聖經》與《伊索寓言》的中譯本，譯者有傳教士，也有中國文人，試圖從時間點、涵義、用字等面向，以及對比現代的使用情況，探討「狼披羊皮」熟語的可能出處。結果發現，用字方面應是出自17世紀陽瑪諾完成的《天主降生聖經直解》，而頭一個翻譯〈披著羊皮的狼〉這則伊索寓言的應是林紓和嚴培南、嚴璩，時間點遲至20世紀初。至於此條熟語在《聖經・馬太福音》與《伊索寓言》的涵義與寓意各有不同，但兩種意思現代都會用到。

Four hundred years ago, missionaries arrived in China. To preach the Gospel, they translated not only the Bible but many other works. These translated works started to circulate and spread around the country and the region, and affect the language of Chinese, opening the development of modern Chinese vernacular and bringing in many idioms. Lang pi yangpi (wolf in sheep’s clothing) is a popular contemporary Chinese idiom. As in the Matthew, it says“beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”(King James version, 1769/2011, Mathew 7:15). There is also a story called“The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”in Aesop’s Fables. Both of them seem related to this Chinese idiom. This study has gone through the translated works of the Bible and Aesop’s Fables since the 17th century, trying to examine the possible origin of this contemporary idiom from the aspects of time, meaning, and wording, as well as investigate the idiom’s modern uses. The results show that the first translated work of“The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”was not done until the beginning of the 20th century by Lin Shu, Yan Peinan and Yan Qu, while the wording of this idiom possibly originates from Tianzhu Jiangsheng Shengjing Zhijie, translated by Emanuel Dias in the 17th century. Since there are two different meanings observed in the Matthew and in“The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”separately, the study has found both meanings have traveled all the way to today’s uses.