“人”与“民”原始含义在《论语》中的保留与发展

The Existence and Development of the Original Meaning of “Human”and“People”in The Analects of Confucius

古文字字形记录了"人"与"民"的原始含义,二者造字之初是截然对立的"最贵者"与奴隶。但是随着词义的发展演变,二者的对立关系发生了重大变化。《论语》中"人"字出现了219次,"民"字49次。通过对这些材料的逐条分析,找到二者所体现的关系。从而证明春秋时期二者虽大量保留原始含义但已经有了变化,即出现了泛指人的情况,词义发生了泛化。

The original meaning of ＂human＂ and ＂people＂ is recorded by ancient Chinese characters,which is diametrically opposite ＂the most noble＂ and slave. But with the development and evolvementof words, great changes have taken place in the opposite relationship between the two. The word ＂human＂appears 219 times, and the word ＂people＂ appears 49 times in The Analects of Confucius. The relationship between the two words can be found by analyzing these materials item by item. It proves that whilethe two kept greatly the original meaning they had few changes in the Spring and Autumn Period. Both became generalized.