“吐蕃”:民族嬗变和语言接触形成的一个混合词

吐蕃:A Hybrid Word Developed in Ethnic Evolution and Language Contact

"吐蕃"是一个混合词。因羌藏民族嬗变之故,古羌族岳神名"伯夷"变为藏语中的"蕃(bod)";因藏语和吐谷浑语接触之故,吐谷浑语中表示"高地"意义的"吐"(tüpü)附加于"蕃"前。"吐蕃"一词自吐谷浑语进入汉语。此词中的汉字"蕃",其声韵当为bo。

The word 吐蕃（pronounced as ＂tubo＂） is a hybrid one.Because of the evolution of the Qiang-Tibetan race,the name ＂Boyi ＂of a hill god of ancient Qiang became ＂bod＂ in the Tibetan language.Then,because of language contact between the Tibetan and the Tuyuhun,＂tüpü＂,which means ＂highland＂ in the Tuyuhun language,was added before ＂bod＂,hence the word ＂tübod＂,which then entered mandarin Chinese.For this reason,the Chinese character 蕃 in the word 吐蕃 should be pronounced as ＂bo＂.