清末民初化学教科书中元素译名的演变——化学元素译名的确立之研究(一)

The Evolution of Chinese Terms for Elements in Chemistry Textbooks in the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Period of Republic of China——Study on the Establishment of Chinese Terms for Elements(I)

选取了从1901年制定<化学名目与命名法>到1932年颁布<化学命名原则>这段时期中32本化学教科书,在对83种元素的汉译名进行统计分析的基础上发现:第一,化学教科书中元素汉译名的使用具有明显的时段特征,即1901～1920年多数采纳徐寿的译名,1921～1932年基本采纳1915年<无机化学命名草案>中的译名.第二,在一些重要元素H、N、O、F、CI、C、P、Hg的译名上,前一时段采纳较多的輕、淡、餋、弗、綠、炭、燐、汞的译名,在后一时段改而采纳氫、氮、氧、氟、氯、碳、磷、銾的译名.结论中对赖特关于术语竞争的觅母说提出质疑.

Thirty-two chemistry textbooks that were first published from the year 1901 when Chemical Terms and Nomenclature was established to the year 1932 when The Nomenclature of Chemistry was approved are selected.Based on an analysis of the Chinese terms for 83 elements in these textbooks,two main conclusions are drawn.Firstly,the year 1920 saw the significant turn of the uses of Chinese terms for elements in textbooks.In the prophase,the majority of Xu Shou's terms were used,while in the anaphase,the terms in The Chinese Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry approved in 1915 by the Ministry of Education were generally adopted.Secondly,as far as the Chinese terms for some significant elements such as hydrogen,nitrogen,oxygen,fluorine,chlorine,carbon,phosphorus and mercury were concerned,輕、淡、養、弗、綠、炭、燐、汞 were used in the prophase,while氫、氮、氧、氟、氯、碳、磷、銾 were adopted in the anaphase.These conclusions call in question David Wright's explanation of the competition between terms in meme theory.