汉语颜色类词的产生

The Designation of the Generic Term for Colour in Chinese

本文追溯采、色两词词义演变和后者如何被选定为颜色类词。在演变过程中 ,采、色两词从物质性底子脱胎出来 ,转指带颜色的物体 ,而色一词作为颜色类词 ,蜕变得更彻底。世界语言的词汇创造中 ,常如色字一词 ,出现抽空原属载体的现象。这种创造手段 ,可说是语言发展的一种共性现象。

In this article I will trace the semantic evolutions of the two chromatic terms cai(采) and se(色), since their first appearances in ancient documents and show how the latter was eventually chosen as the generic term for colour, and cai(采), which ceded its candidature despite an early usage in oracle bone inscriptions, was assigned to signify the notion of “colourful” or “colouring”. It will also be shown that both cai(采) and se(色) had undergone an abstraction of their former material supports, a process typical of lexical creation of a non-concrete nature.