简议“力”和“力学”的含义变迁

ON THE CHANGES OF MEANING OF “LI” AND “LIXUE”(“FORCE” AND “MECHANICS” IN CHINESE)

在古代中国,"力"字和"力学"一词早就出现了。"力"的含义最初是对"人的力量"的直观描述,后来发展到对一般物体的重力的描述,再到对运动状态原因的描述。本文对"力"字含义的变迁进行了辨析。中国现代"力学"是西学东渐的结果,学科名字的确定过程也有不小的曲折。通过分析确定"力学"为学科名字的过程,揭示了中国古人对"力学"学科理解的变迁。

The words "Li" and "Lixue" exist for a long time in Chinese. The meaning of "Li" is initially a direct and intuitive description of "human force". Later, it developed for the description of the gravity of general objects, and then to the description of the causes of motion state change. This paper analyzes the changes of the meaning of "Li". Chinese "Lixue(mechanics)" comes as the result of the introduction of Western learning to the East, and there are many twists and turns in the process of determining the subject name. This paper analyzes the process of determining "Lixue" as the subject name, and reveals the change of ancient Chinese understanding of "Mechanics".