词语理据的修辞求证:以“公主”为例

The Rhetorical Proof of Word Rationale: A Case Study of “Gongzhu”

“公主”作为复合词,其意义为“君主的女儿”,其理据各大词典等都持“主婚说”,即君王的女儿因为出嫁时由“公侯+主婚”而得,看作主谓(陈述)关系,经短语凝结转喻得义。然而,通过同指缺失与多形、单位构成和类推应用以及历时篇章简省同指等修辞视角的分析发现,“公主”及同义族词理据的现有解释是值得商榷的。本文认为,“公”类成分作为修饰成分,表示所指对象享有的最高爵位身份,修饰“主”,而“主”表“女(妇)人”,既是句法核心成分,也是语义核心要素,“公主”类词语应该是限制关系的名词性复合词,构成类似句法上的向心结构,而非主谓(或陈述)类离心结构。

As a compound word, “Gongzhu” means “the daughter of the monarch” and all major dictionaries hold the view that its rationale is “zhuhun shuo”, i.e., the word is derived from “gonghou + zhuhun” when the king’s daughter gets married. So “ Gongzhu” can be seen as subject-predicate(statement) relationship and its meaning is generated from metonymy based on condensed phrases. However, through rhetorical analysis from perspectives such as the absence and polymorphism of the same reference, the composition of the unit and the application of analogy as well as diachronic textual omission of the same reference, it is found that the existing explanations of the rationale of “Gongzhu” and its synonymous words are questionable. This article argues that the“gong” component as a modifier indicates the highest aristocratic status by the referent and thus modifies “zhu”. On the other hand, “zhu” refers to the “female(women) person”, which is both a syntactic and semantic core element. To sum up, the compound “Gongzhu” words should be viewed as noun compound words that restrict relations, forming a syntactically endocentric construction rather than exocentric construction denoting subject-predicate(or statement) relationship.