当代辞书“艾”“乂”释义不当及其原因探析

An Analysis of the Improper Interpretation of"Ai"and"Yi"and the Reasons in the Contemporary Dictionaries

古书中表示割草等义的"艾"是"乂(刈)"的同形字,与艾草的"艾"音义有别。二者在中古以后确立了判然分别的音义关系,"艾"读aì,指艾草。"乂"读yì,指割草。当代辞书将表示割草的"艾"和艾草的"艾"各自的引申义糅杂不别,导致了二字的释义混乱与矛盾。就传世材料而言,导致释义混乱的原因有:未甄别《集韵》材料;据形定音;忽视经史音义注释。今人将"方兴未艾"的"艾"读aì,是错误读法,应当读yì。

In ancient books,"Ai",which means the equivalent of cutting grass,is a homonym of"Yi",which is different from the meaning of"Ai"in wormwood.Later long before,a distinct relationship between their pronunciations and meanings are established,when it reads"Ai",it means wormwood while it means cutting grass when reading"Yi".Contemporary dictionaries have different meanings of"Ai",resulting in their different connotations and confusion.As far as the handed down materials are concerned,the reasons for the confusion of interpretations are unscreened materials of"Ji Yun",confirming pronunciation according to the glyph,and neglect of the annotations of the Confucian classics and history books.It is wrong for modern people to pronounce"Ai"which means"in the ascendant",but should read it as"Yi".