“岁寒,然后知松柏之后凋也”正诂

Discussion on the Expression that When the Winter Comes,the Pine and Cypress will Wither Soon

通过《说文》等材料解析"凋"的造字本义,说明"凋"的本义为"半伤",分析本义与引申义"凋落"在词义轻重上的不同,引证其它"凋"作"半伤"解的例子以及比较其它古籍中与《论语》"松柏之后凋"类似的说法,考证说明"岁寒,然后知松柏之后凋也"中的"凋"为"半伤"义,否定了杨伯峻等"凋"指"凋落"的解释。

By consulting ancient Chinese dictionaries,such as Shuo Wen,this paper concludes that the Chinese character tiao(调) originally means lightly wounded.And the paper compares and contrasts semantically this original meaning with its derived meaning wither.Other illustrations that tiao means lightly wounded are cited and other literatures with examples of the same meaning of wither as When the winter comes,the pine and cypress will wither soon are compared.And finally it argues that the tiao means lightly wounded instead of wither,which is advocated by Yang polin.