“僵”之“仆倒”和“僵硬”义演变更替及相关问题

The Evolution of the Meanings of Pudao(仆倒) and Jiangying(僵硬) on the Chinese word Jiang(僵) and Relative Interpretation

先秦"僵"均用为表具体"仆倒"的动作义,汉代基本沿袭先秦用法,并引申出"死"和"遭受不幸;倾覆"等抽象的"仆倒引申"义,此"仆倒引申"义在明清以后仅留存于个别成语典故中。魏晋时期出现"僵硬"义的萌芽,此后,"僵硬"义不断发展,"仆倒"义渐趋消隐,于清末晚近时"僵硬"义完全取代"仆倒"义并得以发展。通过历时的考察,认为成语"百足之虫,死而不僵"之"僵"应注为"仆倒",而非"僵硬"。

In Han Dynasty, Jiang （僵） still basically indicated the concrete meaning of toppling down which was the only meaning in Pre-Qin dynasty, and extended two new meanings. One is dying, the other is abstract meaning of toppling down extended, e.g., frustrating, collapsing, which remained in one or two Chinese idioms after Ming dynasty .During the Wei or Jin dynasty, the meaning of stiffening began to appear. After that , the meaning of stiffening and toppling down developed respectively. In the late Qing dynasty, the meaning of stiffening completely replaced the meaning of toppling down. Based on the historical investigation, the paper comes to the conclusion that toppling down is right and stiffening is wrong on the interpretation ofBai Zu Zhi Chong, Si Er Bu Jiang.