中古汉语第三人称代词“伊”的来源试析

On the Source of the Third Person Pronoun“Yi 伊”in Middle Chinese

前辈学者大多承认或暗示中古汉语第三人称代词“伊”可能来自先秦的指示代词“伊”,但同时认为其演变过程无从考证,理由主要是两者存在从《诗经》时代到《世说新语》时代的空白期。本文从《诗经》中“伊”已有指示代词和指代人的用例、指示代词“伊”在《诗经》以后并未完全中断(既有引《诗》用例,也有非引《诗》用例)、指示代词兼作或发展为第三人称代词的演变路径在汉语史、现代汉语方言、世界其他语言中屡见不鲜等角度论证中古汉语第三人称代词“伊”确实来自上古汉语指示代词“伊”,其演变过程是可以考证的。

Most of the previous scholars have recognized or implied that the third person pronoun“yi伊”in Middle Chinese may come from the demonstrative pronoun“yi伊”in the pre-Qin period,but they also believed that the evolution process cannot be verified,because there is a blank period between the two items from the era of the Book of Songs to the era of Shi Shuo Xin Yu.This paper proved that the third-person pronoun“yi伊”in Middle Chinese really comes from the demonstrative pronoun“yi伊”in Archaic Chinese,and its evolution process can also be verified,based on the following arguments:The demonstrative pronoun“yi伊”has been used to referring to humans in the Book of Songs,and it has not been completely discontinued after the Book of Songs(either citing the Book of Songs or not citing the Book of Songs),The evolution path from demonstrative pronouns to third person pronouns is common in the history of Chinese,modern Chinese dialects and other languages in the world.