谈民国时期词语的过渡状态——由“点钟”的时间义说起

A Study of the Transitional State of Words During the Period of the Republic of China——Starting with the Meanings of “O’clock” Concerning Time

"点钟"一般作为时点词,用法与"时"、"点"相当,然而在晚清民国的一些文本中,它不仅可以表达时点义,还经常表示时段义,不过后者在解放后逐渐趋于消失,因而此词二义并存是早期现代汉语时期"词语过渡状态"的一个典型例子。

Abstraet：＂O＇clock＂, as a word meaning a point of time generally, is equal to ＂time＂ and ＂point＂ in usage. But in some texts of the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, it can mean both a point of time and a period of time, but the latter tended to disappear gradually after liberation. Therefore the coexistence of the two meanings was a typical example of ＂the transitional state of words＂ in the early period of modem Chinese. Keywords：a point of time; a period of time; o＇clock