说说“中庸”的表达
英语课
本月16日,世博意大利馆展出了一份珍贵的手稿,也就是《中庸》的全球首个拉丁文译本,由被世人誉为“孔子的第一名欧洲译者”的耶稣会教士殷铎泽翻译。拉丁文的我们就不谈,说说英语中“中庸”的表达吧。
《中庸》的英译本名称是The Doctrine 1 Of The Golden Mean:
The Master [Confucius] said, the virtue 2 embodied 3 in the doctrine of the Mean is of the highest order. But it has long been rare among people.
子曰:中庸其至矣乎!民鲜能久矣!
不过,为什么要用Golden Mean来翻译“中庸”呢?其实这个概念在西方哲学中也有出现:
In philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, the golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. For example courage, a virtue, if taken to excess would manifest as recklessness and if deficient 4 as cowardice 5.
亚里士多德的哲学观中就有“中庸”这个说法,指的是两个极端之间的平衡状态。例如勇气,过头就是鲁莽,不足就成懦弱,居中则正好。
所以,这就是Golden Mean的由来。至于意大利馆展出的拉丁文译本,在拉丁语中,“golden mean”的说法是aurea mediocritas,从英语可以反过来推测拉丁文的意思,因为英语中的aura意为“光环”,而mediocre意为“中等的、平庸的、普通的”。
1 doctrine
n.教义;主义;学说
- He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
- The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。
2 virtue
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力
- He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
- You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。
3 embodied
v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 );象征;包括;包含
- a politician who embodied the hopes of black youth 代表黑人青年希望的政治家
- The heroic deeds of him embodied the glorious tradition of the troops. 他的英雄事迹体现了军队的光荣传统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
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