遥远的北方：利玛窦世界地图上的冰岛

Early Chinese Knowledge About Iceland

位于大西洋北部的冰岛,不仅对于古代中国人来说是完全陌生的,而且对于古代西欧人来说也是模糊不清的。古希腊人认为,人类世界最北的边缘有个Thule岛。从中世纪开始直到现在,许多西方学者认为,这个Thule岛就是冰岛。中国人则是通过明末来华传教士利玛窦而获知冰岛的。利玛窦于1595—1598年在南昌期间绘制的世界地图上,将Thule翻译成“都力”,这也是第一个与冰岛有关的中文地名。在1602年绘制的《坤舆万国全图》上,利玛窦不仅把冰岛与想象中的“飞私得岛”(Frislanda)合为一体,而且还与“卧兰的亚大州”(格陵兰岛)连成了一片。“飞私得岛”上的“斯可何尔丁”一名,无疑是古代冰岛宗教中心Scalholdin的音译,而“卧兰的亚大州”上的“何令”乃是冰岛地名Holen的音译。从利玛窦世界地图上的冰岛这个例子可以看出,地理大发现后,来自欧洲的传教士,用各种方式有力地推动了东西方之间的相互认识。

Iceland,located in the north of the Atlantic Ocean,is not only completely unknown to the ancient Chinese,but also ambiguous to the ancient Western Europeans.In the minds of ancient Greeks,there was an island named as Thule on the northernmost edge of the world.From medieval to present,many ones believed that the Thule is Iceland.For the Chinese,the first knowledge about Iceland was introduced by Matteo Ricci,an Italian missionary who came to China in the late Ming Dynasty.In the 1602 world map made by Matteo Ricci in Beijing,Iceland was mingled together with Greenland and the imaginary island Frislanda.From the example of Iceland on Matteo Ricci’s world map,it can be seen that in the age of the Great Discovery,missionaries from Europe promoted mutual understanding between the East and the West in various ways.