从汉文佛典用例看“何忽”“那忽”及其中“忽”的性质

On the properties of hehu( 何忽), nahu( 那忽) and hu( 忽) in these words: Evidence from Chinese Buddhist scripture

"何忽""那忽"是中古汉语中出现的一种用在动词前面作状语,表示询问原因、诘问、责问的语言形式。"何忽""那忽"的性质,学界有的将它们看成一个双音词,认为相当于"何""那",表示"为什么""怎么"之义;有的虽没有明确将它们作为一个词,但认为其中的"忽"无义,仅是凑足一个音节的语助。本文通过调查同时期语料(特别是汉文佛典中的大量用例),发现"何忽"与"何","那忽"与"那"存在着一定的差异。首先,使用此类"何忽""那忽"作状语的句子,往往带有因突然发生、发现某事而惊讶、责问的意味。"何忽"的扩展形式是"如何+忽""云何+忽""如何+忽然""云何+忽然""云何+忽尔";"那忽"的扩展形式是"奈何+忽""奈何+忽然""奈何+忽尔""奈何+忽焉"。其次,历代文献中以"忽"为语素的双音词,其中的"忽"均有实义,未见为凑足一个音节而作语助的用法。我们认为"何忽""那忽"中的"忽"并非语助,且有"忽然""突然"之实意,故"何忽""那忽"并非双音词,而是两个单音词组合的一种凝固形式(或称"如何+忽""如何+忽然""奈何+忽""奈何+忽然"等的缩略式)。

The preverbal adverbials hehu( 何忽) and nahu( 那忽) appeared in Middle Chinese, meaning ‘to ask for reason, to interrogate, and to ask questions’. Some previous studies viewed hehu and nahu as disyllabic words, which are simply equivalents to he( 何) and na( 那), meaning ‘why’and ‘how’. In spite of not explicitly stating hehu and nahu as words, some other studies considered hu( 忽) as carrying no meaning and merely a particle to form a syllable. This paper finds that there are some differences between hehu and he, nahu and na through investigating corpus data from the same period, with a large number of examples in the Chinese Buddhist scriptures. Sentences with hehu and nahu as adverbials often express a sense of surprise and accusation caused by sudden occurrence or discovery of something. The expanded forms for hehu include ruhe hu( 如何忽), yunhe hu( 云何忽), ruhe huran( 如何忽然), yunhe huran( 云何忽然) and yunhe hu-er( 云何忽尔), while the expanded forms for nahu include naihe hu( 奈何忽), naihe huran( 奈何忽然), naihe hu-er( 奈何忽尔) and naihe huyan( 奈何忽焉). In the literature of past dynasties, the morpheme hu found in disyllabic words had a concrete meaning, and was not used as an auxiliary word to form a syllable. Therefore, it is proposed that the hu in hehu and nahu is not an auxiliary morpheme and it conveys a concrete meaning of ‘sudden’. Hehu and nahu are not disyllabic words, but solidified forms resulting from the combination of two monosyllabic words.