《荀子》“贪利”考

Textual Research on Tanli(贪利)in Xunzi(《荀子》)

“贪利”有两种意思,一是动宾结构,即贪求利益;二是同义连用,“利”亦“贪”也。《荀子》书中共出现了十二次“贪利”,“利”字都是“贪”的意思,贪、利二字同义平列,而非动宾结构。戾、利二字虽可通用,但意义有区别。除读作“贪利”者外,“贪戾”只能训作贪婪、暴戾,与动宾结构或同义连用的“贪利”都不同。

Tanli(贪利)has two meanings.One is the verb-object structure,meaning the greed for profi t;the other is synonymous parallel,in which,li(利)is tan(贪).Tanli(贪利)appears twelve times in Xunzi(《荀子》)and all the words li(利)mean tan(贪),two words being the juxtaposition of synonyms,rather than the verb-object structure.Although li(戾)and li(利)can be used interchangeably,their meanings are diff erent.Except for those pronounced as tanli(贪利),tanli(贪戾)can only be understood as greed and violence,which is diff erent from tanli(贪利)with the verb-object structure or synonymous parallel.