“解剖学”中文译名的由来与确定--以德贞《全体通考》为中心

The Source and Determination of the Chinese Translation of "Anatomy":with reference to J. Dudgeon's Quan Ti Tong Kao

20世纪前中国知识界以"全体学"指称"解剖学",并经历了一场由"全体学"到"解剖学"的发展过程。以往将"解剖"一词说成是由日本输入的观点值得商榷。事实上,差不多在日本学界确定"解剖学"一词的时候,英国在华医学传教士、同文馆医学教习德贞于1886年翻译出版的《全体通考》已充分使用了"解剖"、"解剖学"和"外科解剖学"等专业术语,用以阐述西方的身体知识和解剖学思想。《全体通考》所传达的科学思想、生命科学研究方法和思路,代表当时最先进的解剖科学研究方向,中国官方最终确定"解剖学"的中文译名是以该书为依据的。现代意义的"解剖学"名词的成型是多种语言和科学思想互动的结果。

Prior to the twentieth century,Chinese scholars accepted quan ti xue(全体学)as a Chinese equivalent for 'anatomy,' before finally adopting jie pou xue(解剖学).The previous assumption that the latter term was imported from Japan is questionable.In fact,the medical missionary and British doctor John Dudgeon,who was also tutor of medicine at the Tong Wen Guan(the Imperial Tong Wen College),had employed terms like jie pou(解剖),jie pou xue(解剖学)and wai ke jie pou xue(外科解剖学)in his translation of Quan Ti Tong Kao(全体通考,Gray's Anatomy)in 1886 to introduce Western knowledge of the body and anatomy,at just about the same time as 解剖 became a special term referring to the branch of science in Japan.The scientific thought,and the life science research methodology and approach expressed in Quan Ti Tong Kao represented the state of art in anatomy at the time and provided solid ground for the final establishment of the term jie pou xue in China.The Chinese term jie pou xue in the modern sense is the outcome of interaction among different languages and scientific ideas.