“信、达、雅”辨难与辩难综观——严复变译思想考之一

An Overview of Analyzing, Defending and Questioning “Faithfulness”,“Expressiveness” and “Elegance”: Studies on Yan Fu's Thought of Translation Variation

综观百年来对严复"信、达、雅"的讨论,可归为辨难和辩难两大类。辨难主要讨论"信、达、雅"的内涵与作用,剖析三字说的疑惑,厘清三字之间的关系,讨论"信、达、雅"的联系与区别;辩难则对"信、达、雅"进行辩护和问难,但辩护理据不足,信和雅受责比达要多。总体上看,以辩难为主。

The discussions ofYan Fu＇ s three-character translation principle： Faithfulness, Expressiveness and Elegance, have lasted over one hundred years and can be grouped into two categories： 1） analyzing and clarifying, and 2） defending and questioning. The former mainly focuses on the connotations and functions of the principle, and in order to clarify the relations among the three characters, and the latter just on defending and questioning the principle. But the reasons for defending are scarce and ＂Faithfulness＂ and ＂Elegance＂ are criticized more than ＂Expressiveness＂. Overall, the category of defending and questioning accounts for the main part of the discussions of the principle.