《黄帝内经》中病名术语“癫”的英译探析

Exploration on English Translation of Terminology“Dian”in Inner Canon of Huangdi

《黄帝内经》作为一本综合性的中医学典籍,其涉及的中医病症名称十分丰富,而病名术语作为中医学术系统的重要组成部分,其英译研究对中医文化的对外传播与交流具有重大的现实意义。在对《黄帝内经》中的“癫”疾进行梳理后发现,“癫”作为一种病症,在不同的语境下有不同的含义主要有三指,一指头部疾病;二指痫证;三指狂证。本文主要结合《黄帝内经》4个英译本的翻译实例,遵照病症名翻译的简明性以及忠实性,对不同语境下病症名“癫”的英译进行分析探讨,在一词多义的情况下,需要明确原文的内涵意义,准确传达原文信息。而由于《黄帝内经》成书年代久远,古今学者在其解读上难免存在争议,对于一些含义模糊之“癫”,在英译时可以根据词语的指称意义进行适当的引申和变通。

Inner Canon of Huangdi is a comprehensive classic of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),which involves a lot of TCM disease names.After sorting out the“Dian”disease in Inner Canon of Huangdi,it is found that“Dian”,as a kind of disease,has different meanings in different contexts,which can be divided into three main meanings:head disease;epilepsy;mania.Based on the translation examples of the four English versions of Inner Canon of Huangdi,this article analyzes and discusses the English translation of“Dian”in different contexts in accordance with the translation principles of conciseness and fidelity of the disease terminology.It is necessary to clarify the connotation of the source text and accurately convey the original information in the case of polysemy.However,because of the long history of Inner Canon of Huangdi,there are unavoidable disputes in its interpretation between ancient and modern scholars.For the“Dian”disease with ambiguous meaning,its English translation can be appropriately extended and adapted according to its designative meaning.