现代星座汉译名的由来与演变

The Origin and Evolution of the Chinese Translations of the Names of the Western Constellations

早在8世纪左右,黄道十二星座的概念就传入中国,从明代起,西方近现代星座体系陆续传入中国。近几百年来,西方星座的汉语译名从初步使用、改变到最后定名经历了复杂的过程。论文为理清这一现象的历史脉络,在查找、核对大量原始文献的基础上,对现代星座汉译名的演变过程作了较为全面的对比、考订和分析。星座译名的使用和变化,与国人对西方星座体系的了解、认识和全盘接受的过程也是一致的。论文还站在现代各学科沟通、融合的高度,对某些星座现译名的不合理之处提出修改建议。

Around the eighth century, the concept of the twelve constellations （Zodiac） was introduced into China. The system of the modem Western constellation, however, was not introduced into China until the Ming Dynasty （ 1368 - 1644）. Over the next four centuries, the Chinese translations of the names of the Western constellations had gone through a complex process from the initial tryouts, subsequent modifications, to their finalized and standard names. Through analyzing the rele- vant historical materials, this article describes the process in a more or less comprehensive way. It concludes that the different translations reflect very well the levels of the Chinese understanding of the systems of the Western constellation at different periods of time. In addition, the article also proposes several new Chinese translations of the names of the constellation from a view point of the contempo- rary astronomy and its interdisciplinary studies.