“忐忑”源流考

On the Origin and Development of Tante

历史上“忐忑”至少有三个来源:第一个是分别用为人名的“忐”“忑”,二字不连言;第二个是表心神不定的“忐忑”,亦可写作“憳忒”,更古老的写法是“憛悇”和“悇憛”,本字应为“惮怛”,且“惮”“怛”具有同源关系,本义为畏惧、害怕;第三个是道经中分别读为口梗切和端讨切的“忐忑”,应该是“恳祷”的俗体。

There are at least three sources of Tante in history.The first one were used as names of ancient people,which didn't combine into a term.The second one is Tante,meaning anxious and preoccupied,which can also be written as Tante.The older written forms are“tantu”and Tutan,whose origin characters should be Danda.And Dan and Da have the same origin,whose meaning is dread and fear.The third one is the Tante in Taoist scriptures,which is pronounced as Kengdao,which should be the non-standard Chinese characters of Kendao.