“黑灯瞎(下)火”考辨

An Etymological Note of the Idiomatic Phrase Heidengxiahuo黑灯瞎/下火

《现代汉语词典》等权威辞书收录了汉语成语“黑灯瞎(下)火”,其语义清晰,表示“黑暗、没有灯光”义,其中语素“瞎(下)”应表示“熄灭”义,但用字和读音不统一,而且所用之字与“熄灭”义也不相关联。文章通过辩析认为,“黑灯瞎(下)火”的合适语形应当是“黑灯火”。“灺”,徐野切,本义是烛煜,引申表熄灭义,用于成语“黑灯地火”音合义恰。

The most prestigious dictionaries such as The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary(Xiandai Hanyu Cidian)spare an entry for the idiomatic phrase Heidengxiahuo黑灯瞎/下火,literally taken to mean DARK and UNLIT.The morpheme xia瞎/下,of which the sense should be decided as EXTINGUISHED,has its character to run at odds with the pronunciation and meaning.This paper argues that the morpheme should be identified as xie灺,xuye qie徐野切,indicating candles dying out and then‘extinguished',thus to match the phrase per se.