作为“补充”的“译名”--理雅各中国经典翻译中的“上帝”与“圣经”之辨

Translation Term as Supplement: Reasoning of “God/Shangdi” and “Bible/Shengjing” in James Legge's Translation of Chinese Classics

理雅各对儒家经典及道家文献的翻译与注疏作出了巨大的贡献。然而,作为一名新教传教士的理雅各,其翻译与诠释并未超越自身的理解视域。在此前提之下,应重点关注理雅各对"帝"或"上帝"以及"经"或"圣经"的译名翻译问题。通过对"God"、"Bible"、"Scripture"和"Canon"以及"经"和"圣经"的词源学考查及辩读,一方面可以寻绎出这些概念在其各自的文化语境中不断被"补充"与"替换"的"踪迹",另一方面也可以在中西经文互译的过程中揭示出这一作用如何体现于理雅各的翻译与诠释之中。

James Legge makes a great contribution with his translation and annotation of Confucian and Taoist scriptures. However, his horizon of expectation as a missionary clearly underlined his under- standing and interpretation. From this prerequisite, this paper mainly concentrates on the term ques- tion concerning ＂Di＂ or ＂Shangdi＂ and ＂Jing＂ or ＂Shengjing＂ in Legge＇s translation. Through the ety- mological examination and reasoning of ＂God,＂ ＂Bible,＂ ＂Scripture＂ and ＂Canon＂ in English, as well as ＂Jing＂ and ＂Shengjing＂ in Chinese, we can not only retrospect the ＂trace＂ of these conceptions which were successively supplemented and substituted in their own cultural context, but also disclose how this function actualized in Legge＇s translation and interpretation in the process of bilateral-transla- tion of scriptures between China and the West.