东亚语境中“汉字”词源考

The Etymology of Hanzi in the Context of East Asia

日本学术界素有"汉字"一词由该国首创之说,最早文献为入唐僧最澄817年撰著的《照权实镜》。迄今为止,中国人或其他国家学者也未对此提出质疑。然而,早在8世纪初以前,唐僧义净的《梵语千字文》已使用"汉字"一词,时间比日本早百年以上,因此推断最澄所用"汉字"概念源自中国而非其独创。此外,在中国书法史上,"汉字"相对于魏晋以后流行的草书、行书、楷书等,指称"汉代之隶书"。然而,梵汉对译实践中产生的"汉字"及中国文字书写形体流变过程中萌生的"汉字",均限于特殊语境及历史时期,并未演化成代指"中国文字"的泛称。清末赴日的中国官绅接触到日本语境中与"假名"对应的"汉字"概念并将之引入国内,创造出一个涵盖东亚的"汉字"新概念。

In the Japanese academic circle,it has long been believed that the word Hanzi was originated in Japan.The earliest example of the usage of Hanzi appeared in Japanese was Shogonjikkyo.Shogonjikkyo was written in 817 by Saichō,a Japanese monk who came to China（Tang Dynasty）as a short-term foreign student.No scholars from China or other countries have ever expressed any objection to the opinion that Hanzi was created by Japanese.In Concise Encyclopedia Britannica,Hanziis spelt as Kanji according to its Japanese pronunciation instead of the Chinese way.However,it was not until Saichōreturned to Japan from China that he began to use the word Hanzi,and the concept of Hanzi had already appeared in China＇s monk circle at that time.The earliest use of Hanzi ever discovered was as early as the beginning of the 8th century,in A Thousand Sanskrit Words by Yijing,a Chinese monk.Since Yijing used Hanzi more than 100 years earlier than Saichō,we conclude that Saichōused it by following Chinese usage rather than his own creation.In the literature of Qin and Han Dynasties,the Chinese character was called ming,shu,wen,zi and so on.In the then dominant world view of separating hua（China and its civilized people）fromyi（all foreign countries and their people with lower level of education）,the Chinese character that represented the advanced civilization was unique.Therefore,it was unnecessary to use hanfor modification.Hence,there was no such usage as Hanzi.Then from Wei and Jin to Sui and Tang Dynasties,with the development of Buddhist sutra translation,Chinese traditional Confucianism and Taoism had to face enormous challenge from Buddhist culture.Under the influence of Sanskrit,the foreignized Chinese characters had to give way to Sanskrit words.For those who regarded Sanskrit words as orthodoxy,using zialone was not enough to represent Chinese characters.Then the concept of Hanzi emerged,so as to distinguish them from Sanskrit words.Besides the concept of Hanzi which came into being in the background of Sanskrit-Chinese translation,there was also the concept of Hanzi in the context of the development and evolution of Chinese written words.Hong Shi of the Song Dynasty commented on TheTabletof Mount Baishiin his Li Shi,″The inscription on this tablet is quite different from Han Dynasty calligraphy（Hanzi）,and is all similar to the tablets of Wei and Jin Dynasties.″Here the word Hanzi referred to script of Han Dynasty,or more accurately,″official script of the Han Dynasty,″as opposed to cursive script,semi-cursive script,regular script,which came into vogue after Wei and Jin Dynasties.There are two major sources of Hanziin the context of China.One is the″official script of the Han Dynasty″in calligraphic history,which matured in Han Dynasty and was held up as a model by later generations.And the other is″Chinese characters″or″written words of China,″which was distinguished from Sanskrit words during the process of Sanskrit-Chinese translation.When Chinese characters spread to the neighboring countries,Japan,Korea and other countries also germinated the concept of Hanzi.Take Japanese for example,Hanzi was originally used to define″Chinese characters,″and;when kana popped up,it also related to Japanese″kokuji″（Chinese character imitation）;and after Western learning spread to the East in modern times,Hanzi was used in a general sense for″eastern characters.″Hanzi is used to refer to″Chinese characters″or″official script of the Han Dynasty,″each limited to the particular field.From Han Dynasty to late Qing Dynasty,almost no scholars from the scholium circle ever used the term.In the transitional period from ancient ming,shu,wen,zi to modern″Chinese characters,″there is a link neglected,which is connected to Huang Zunxian,Liang Qichao,Wang Zhao and other cultural figures＇efforts.They went to Japan in late Qing Dynasty and in the early period of the Republic of China,and brought back to China the concept of Hanzi in the system of Japanese writing system.They brought about a modern concept of″Chinese characters.″