也谈“曾几何时”的语义、音步及注释

Discussion on Semantics,Foot and Notes of “曾几何时”

"曾几何时"的本义(传统用法)表示"时间没过多久";新义之一表示"不知在(是)什么时候"或"不知从何时起";新义之二表示"曾经有一段时间"或"曾经在某个时间段",其成因是"曾几何时"中的"曾"是曾经之义,而且"曾经"常常引出时间;"曾几何时"的音步是"2+2"而不是"1+2+1",常用于句首充当全句的时间修饰语;词典对"曾几何时"的注解存在各种问题。

The original meaning of ＂ 曾几何时＂（ traditional usage） is ＂ not long time ago＂. But now it has new meanings and one of them is ＂ not knowing when it happened＂ or ＂ not knowing when it began＂,and the other meaning is ＂ once in a time＂ or ＂ once in a while＂,the reason for which is ＂ 曾＂ in the phrase of＂ 曾几何时＂means ＂ ever＂ which is often used to indicate time; the foot of ＂ 曾几何时＂ which is always used at the beginning of the sentence at the temporal modifiers,is ＂ 2 ＋ 2 ＂ but not ＂ 1 ＋ 2 ＋ 1 ＂,and what＇s more there are many wrong notes in dictionaries.