活字与“the living word”的对应理解

Corresponding Understandings of "the Living Word"

Jespersen在其经典之作Philosophy ofGrammar里提到汉语语言学家对动词的另一个称谓,并将其英译为“the living word”。从术语翻译的三大标准来看,并结合对Jespersen相关著作的研读,邓文韬等将此英文表达还原成“活字”显然比“有活力的词”更恰当。但邓文韬将此“活字”与“诗之眼”等同起来却又有失偏颇。通过对“活字”的由来和意义详尽的梳理,可知这个语法术语与诗眼有本质区别,“活字”才是“the living word”的准确对应。

In his masterpiece Philosophy of Grammar Jespersen quoted another name of verb called by Chinese grammarians and translated it into English as ＂the living word＂. This paper examines several translations of ＂the living word＂ based on the standards of term translation, the relevant history and development of Chinese grammar as well as traditional Chinese poems, and concludes that ＂huozi＂ （ 活字 ） is the more appropriate corresponding understanding and translation of ＂the living word＂.