新词与新物:1920—1930年代“Television”的汉译与流行研究

The Translation and Popularization of the Word“Television”from 1920s to 1930s in China

对“television—电视”命名史的考据,具有追溯中国电视史原点的重要意义。西方自1920年代以来的电视技术研制活动,引发了中国知识界的关注,并提出多种针对“television”的译名。1934年,带有官方背景的《物理学名词》将“电视”确定为“television”的标准译法,由此赋予该译名以权威性。从“television”到“电视”的翻译逻辑并非以往研究声称的策略性挪用,而是一种继承性创造:物理与电气工程领域的科学共同体,继承了晚清以来形成的“tele—电”的对译传统,以“电报”、“电话”等已有译名为中介词,构造出“电视”一词。同时,科学共同体也通过参与大众媒介传播,积极将这一专业概念推广到更广阔的社会范围内,扩大了“电视”一词的流通范围和影响力。“television—电视”的翻译命名史实质上是一次以翻译为外在表征的自主知识再造活动,体现出近代国人在知识引入中的文化主体性。

Exploring the history of how the word“Television”was translated into Chinese is of great significance to trace the origin of Chinese Television history.The development of television technology in the west since the 1920s attracted the attention of some Chinese intellectuals,and many translations of“Television”had been since put forward.In 1934,Terminology of Physics with official background defined"Dian-shi"as the standard Chinese translation of“Television”,which gave the translation an ultimate authority.The logic of translation from“Television”to“Dian-shi”was not a strategic appropriation claimed by some previous studies,but an inherited creation:a scientific community in the field of physics and electrical engineering,which inherited the translation tradition of“tele”as“dian”(electricity)formed since the late Qing Dynasty,constructed the word“Dian-shi”,assimilating the Chinese translation of“telegraph”(as“Dian-bao”)and“telephone”(as“Dian-hua”).At the same time,the scientific community had actively promoted this professional concept to a wider social scope through mass media,which expanded the circulation and influence of the word“Dian-shi”.The translation-naming history of“Television”as“Dian-shi”was essentially an independent knowledge reconstruction with translation as the external representation,which reflected the cultural subjectivity of modern Chinese people in the introduction of foreign knowledge.