早期中文法律词语的英译研究--以马礼逊《五车韵府》为考察对象

Early English Translations of Chinese Legal Terms:A Study Based on Robert Morrison’s Wuche yunfu

《五车韵府》是马礼逊以清初同名字典为蓝本而编纂的一部汉英双语字典,所载早期中文法律词语是中国法制近代化以前中国人亲身浸润的话语体系。通过考证马礼逊翻译中文刑法、民商法、诉讼法、基础法律及封建法等领域的法律词语的情况,可知马礼逊的翻译是中文法律概念进入英语世界的一次尝试,在中西法律文化交流中发挥了较重要的作用。马礼逊的翻译策略和翻译范式影响了后世汉英双语词典的编纂。

Wuche yunfu (五车韵府) is a bilingual dictionary of Chinese and English compiled by Robert Morrison and named after an early Qing exemplar. The Chinese legal terms contained in the dictionary are from a pre-modern discourse system very familiar to the Chinese of the time. From his translation of legal terms in the major branches of Chinese law including criminal law, civil law, procedural law, basic law and feudal law, we can see that Morrison’s translation was the first attempt to convey Chinese legal concepts to the English-speaking world. As such, it played quite an important role in communication between Chinese and Western legal cultures. Morrison’s translation strategies and paradigms had an influence on the later compilation of bilingual dictionaries of Chinese and English.