“铤”有“直”义的词源学解释——兼说/直/义的同源词族

Interpretation of the Meaning Straight of Ting (铤) from the Perspective of Etymology——Discussing the Cognates that Contain Straight Semanteme Concurrently

《左传·文公十七年》:“铤(挺)而走险,急何能择?”晋杜预注:“铤,疾走貌。”清洪亮吉《春秋左传诂》:“按此字当从手、廷。高诱《吕氏春秋》注:‘犹动也。’盖云动而走险耳。”其实诸家释义均有未安。通过梳理词源义发现,“铤”与“廷”“■”声分别孳乳产生的同源词之间有着音近义通的同源关系,它们共同的词源义为直,所以“铤(挺)而走险”的“铤”“挺”应释作动词义“直”,即直身、挺身,含有勇敢地站出来承担责任之意,成语应翻译为“(在无计可施或无路可走等紧急情况下)直身或挺身赴险”,这也契合“急何能择”这种卫国语境。

The Seventeenth Year of Wengong,Zuozhuan(《左传·文公十七年》)contains a sentence ting er zouxian,ji heneng ze(铤/挺而走险,急何能择),in which the word ting(铤)was explained by Du Yu as jizou mao(疾走貌)in Jin Dynasty.While in Qing Dynasty,Hong Liangji thought that it was composed of semantic element shou(手)and phonetic element ting(廷)in Zuozhuan Gu(《左传诂》).Gao You thought it meant moving which was synonymous with running risks when he interpreted LüLan(《吕览》).From the original meaning of zou(走)referring to running,we know that The Great Chinese Character Dictionary(《汉语大字典》),Encyclopedic Dictionary of Chinese Words(《汉语大词典》),The Chinese Etymology Dictionary(《辞源》)and The Dictionary of the Origin and Development of Idioms(《成语源流通释大辞典》)all acknowledge Du Yu’s interpretation,but Gao You and Hong Liangji thought Ting(铤)means moving,however,these interpretations are all questionable actually.By the analysis of etymological meaning,we fi nd that with similar sound and related meaning,ting(铤)has cognate relationship with words derived from the sounds ting(廷)and jing(■)respectively,and their common etymological meaning is the straight semanteme,so ting(廷)or ting(挺)should be interpreted as straighten one’s back to stand up to take the responsibility bravely,and tingerzouxian(铤/挺而走险)should be interpreted as going straight or standing up for risks in an emergency or in the absence of a way to go,which is also in accordance with the emergency context of defending country as jihenengze(急何能择).