从语言层面探析湛约翰对《道德经》的诠释

John Chalmers' Interpretation of Dao De Jing at the Level of Language

作为中国典籍代表之一,《道德经》一书文约而义丰,思想深邃,给后人提供了一个巨大的诠释空间。1868年,伦敦图伯纳出版社出版了湛约翰翻译的《老子玄学、政治与道德律之思辨》一书,是为《道德经》英译之滥觞。从语言层面来探析湛约翰对"夷"、"希"、"微"这三个汉字本身所蕴含的提喻修辞的诠释、对汉字"道"之比喻义的诠释、对汉字"水"之联想义的诠释,聚焦译者对翻译的能动和制约作用,进而对翻译过程中译者自身的素养对翻译的影响问题做出思考并得出启示。

Being one of the representative works of the Chinese culture, Dao De Jing is intellectually incisive, expressing profound implications with elliptical words. The puzzle of language, culture and thought contained in it provides an immense space for the interpretation of posterity. In 1868, Figure Bernard Press in London published The Speculations on Metaphysics, Polity and Morality of ＂The Old Philosopher＂, Lau-tsze translated by John Chalmers, which drew the prologue of translating Dao De Jing into English. The paper mainly studies on Chalmers＂ interpretation of Dao De Jing at the level of language by focusing on his interpretation of the synecdoche reflected in Characters ＂Yi＂ ＂Xi＂ ＂Wei＂, his interpretation of the metaphorical implication of character ＂Dao＂ and his interpretation of the associating ideas contained in character ＂Water＂. The paper is to look into bow missionaries play a central role in the Chinese canon-in-translation, and to ponder how a competent translator should treat the Chinese canonin-translation and thus draw some enlightenment.