“ 时间 ” 探源

The Origin of Shijian(时间)

名词“时间”最早出现于东汉,表“短时间内”之义,它是短语“一时间”简缩的结果;宋金以后,又出现一个表“目下、现时”义的名词“时间”,它是由时间词“时”与后置词“间”黏合而成的。元代以后,“时间”发展出副词的用法,一是表示时间短暂,相当于偶尔,一时间;一是表示动作发生得迅疾,相当于立刻,马上。这两个副词义项都是表“短时间内”的名词“时间”语法化的结果。至于现代汉语中的名词“时间”,它出现在20世纪初,是来自日语的汉字词。

The noun shijian first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty,which means"within a short time".It is the abbreviation of the phrase yi shijian.After the Song and Jin Dynasties,another noun shijian which means"present"appeared.It is formed by the combination of the time word shi(时)and the postposition jian(间).After the Yuan Dynasty,shijian developed the use of adverbs.First,it means lasting only a short time,which is equivalent to“occasionally”;second,it means that the action takes place quickly,which is equivalent to“immediately”.These two adverbial meanings are the result of the grammaticalization of the noun shijian indicating"in a short time".As for the noun shijian in modern Chinese,it appeared in the early 20th century and is a Chinese-character word from Japanese.