汉语“晚”义词的共时与历时考察

The Synchronic and Diachronic Study of Chinese“Late”Words

“晚”义词是汉语常用词,如今在现代汉语方言里以“晚”“晏”“迟”为主导。文章对这类词做共时与历时考察发现,“晚”“晏”“迟”表示“比一定时间靠后”开始于先秦且三者长期处于此消彼长的竞争替换之中,即先秦两汉“晏”略占优势,“晚”在魏晋打败“晏”并在明清以前占据主导,而“迟”于明清蓬勃发展产生了对“晚”“晏”的替换,至今都是汉语里使用最繁的“晚”义词。总体而言,“晚”义词的历时演变与共时分布呈现出了一些对应,能够相互解释与印证。

Words with the meaning“late”are commonly used words in Chinese,which predominated by Wan(晚),Yan(晏)and Chi(迟)in today’s modern Chinese dialects.This article maked a synchronic and diachronic investigation of such words,and find that Wan(晚),Yan(晏)and Chi(迟)indicating“later than a certain time”started at the pre-Qin period.Morever,these three dominant words have been undergoing competitive substitutions one after another in a long time.That is to say,Yan(晏)had a slight advantage in the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties,and it defeated by Wan(晚)in the Wei and Jin Dynasties and then Wan(晚)dominated continuously till to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.However,it wasn’t until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that Chi(迟)developed vigorously and began to replace Wan(晚)and Yan(晏).And taday Chi(迟)is still the most frequently used Chinese word with meaning“late”.Overall,the diachronic evolution and synchronic distribution of the words with meaning“late”show some correspondences,which can explain and confirm each other.