Matteo Ricci and the Missionary Role in the Evolution of Chinese Lexicon / Zhao Ming 趙明

"This is a systematic study of Matteo Ricci's (1552-1610) enormous impact on the development of modern scientific and intellectual terminology in China. Taking the Sino-Western cultural exchanges initiated by Western Jesuit missionaries in the late-Míng dynasty as its starting point, this book comprehensively presents the new terms coined by Ricci (and his collaborators) in his religious, geographical, geometrical, and astronomical Chinese writings. It uses a multitude of examples adopted from Ricci's Chinese works as well as from ancient Chinese documents to discuss etymological evolution. Ricci's early coinages of terms and their subsequent history demonstrate the role of interaction and scholarly collaboration between the late Míng Jesuits and Chinese intellectuals in the formation of modern Chinese lexicon. The research conclusions of this book will further advance Míng-dynasty studies and contribute to a new understanding of the creation of modern Chinese lexicon. A vital resource for students, scholars and linguists studying and researching in the history of Chinese and early Mandarin. This volume will also be very interesting among students and scholars of Chinese literature and history, particularly among scholars who work in Míng history and literature"-- Provided by publisher.

Introduction -- The historical background to Ricci's missionary role in the evolution of the Chinese lexicon -- Religious terms coined by Matteo Ricci -- Geographical names and terminology coined by Matteo Ricci -- Geometrical terms coined by Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi 徐光啟 -- Astronomical terms coined by Matteo Ricci and Li Zhizao 李之藻 -- Terms coined by Matteo Ricci and Michele Ruggieri -- Ricci's missionary role in the evolution of the Chinese lexicon -- Appendix 1: The evolution of word forms in Ricci's coinages -- Appendix 2: Ricci's timeline in China.

Available in open access from the publisher's website.

Local access dig.pdf [Zhao_Matteo_Ricci_and_the_missionary_role.pdf]

New terms for new ideas : Western knowledge and lexical change in Late Imperial China / edited by Michael Lackner, Iwo Amelung and Joachim Kurtz.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [411]-447) and index.
Contents: So Clumsy a Medium ...Chinese Terminologies: On Preconceptions / Viviane Alleton -- Language Contact and Lexical Innovation / Benjamin K. T'sou -- Language in the Modernization Process: The Integration of Western Concepts and Terms into Chinese and Japanese in the Nineteenth Century / Wolfgang Lippert -- The Politics of Names: 'Liberty', 'Democracy', 'President': The Translation and Usage of Some Political Terms in Late Qing China / Xiong Yuezhi -- Yi, Yang, Xi, Wai and Other Terms: The Transition from 'Barbarian' to 'Foreigner' in Late Imperial China / Fang Weigui -- The Notions of 'Power' and 'Rights' in Chinese Political Discourse / Rune Svarverud -- Negotiating Equivalence: Coming to Terms with Logic: The Naturalization of an Occidental Notion in China / Joachim Kurtz -- An Inquiry into the History of the Chinese Terms Jiqi (Machine) and Jixie (Machinery) / Zhang Baichun -- Weights and Forces: The Introduction of Western Mechanics into Late Qing China / Iwo Amelung -- On Their Own Terms: Yan Fu and the Tasks of the Translator / David Wright -- Natural Philosophy, Physics and Metaphysics in the Thought of Tan Sitong: The Concepts of Qi and Yitai / Ingo Schäfer -- A New Inquiry into the Translation of Chemical Terms by John Fryer and Xu Shou / Wang Yangzong -- Competing Nomenclatures: The Creation of Technical Terms in English-Chinese Dictionaries from the Nineteenth Century / Shen Guowei -- On Mathematical Terminology: Culture Crossing in Nineteenth-Century China / Andrea Bréard -- The Formation of Botanical Terminology: A Model or a Case Study? / Georges Métailié -- Grammars of Alterity: Some Reflections on the Sources of the Mashi wentong / Alain Peyraube -- Circumnavigating the Unfamiliar: Dao'an (314-385) and Yan Fu (1852-1921) on Western Grammar / Michael Lackner – Epilogue: May Fourth Linguistic Orthodoxy and Rhetoric: Some Informal Comparative Notes / Christoph Harbsmeier.

This volume is about the lasting impact of new (Western) notions on the 19th and early 20th century Chinese language; their invention, spread and standardization. Reaching beyond the mere cataloguing of the thousands of lexical innovations in this period of change, the essays explore the multiple ways in which initially alien notions were naturalized in Chinese scientific and political discourse.
Topics examined range from preconceptions about the capacity of the Chinese language to accommodate foreign ideas, the formation of specific nomenclatures and the roles of individual translators, to Chinese and European attempts at coming to terms with each other’s grammar.
By systematically analysing and assessing the lexical adaptation of Western notions in Chinese contexts, the book will serve as a valuable reference work for all those interested in the historical semantics of modern China.

Local access dig.pdf.[New Terms New Ideas.pdf]