Matteo Ricci's Influence On Modern Chinese Scientific Terminology-Based On A Comparison Between Latin And Chinese Version Of Matteo Ricci's Books

This paper starts with the cultural exchange between China and the western Christian missionaries in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and explores the Chinese books on science and technology translated or written by Matteo Ricci,including the original works and the translated versions of the scattered sheets of Portuguese-Chinese Dictionary,Great Universal Geographic Map,Qian Kun Ti Yi,Astrolabium,Euclid's Elements,Numeration,and Coelum Esse Figurae sphaericae.The discussion covers ancient Chinese,modern Chinese,and Latin.Through the comparison and analysis,it examines the influence of the Latin word-formation pattern on the Chinese vocabulary during the most influential language contact.This paper serves as a reference for future research on Chinese lexicology and cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world.The paper is divided into six chapters.The first chapter introduces the origin of the topic,its significance,the research object of this paper,the novelty and difficulties of the research,and the framework and methods on the basis ofsummarizing the research status.The second chapter focuses on the Chinese translated versions,their content,and the Latin copies.It analyzes the coinage of modern Chinese words based on the works of Matteo.The third chapter looks at the new words in Matteo 's works on science and technology.Drawing on the first-hand materials,the author compares the Latin words and the corresponding new Chinese words within to analyze the connotations and structures of the Latin words and their influence on those of the Chinese ones.The fourth chapter describes the types and formation of the new words and their connection with the modern Chinese system.They created new patterns for Chinese word formation,through new ways of free translation and imitation translation,which accommodated the development of word formation in Chinese during the Ming and Qing dynasties and acquired unique characteristics thanks to the features of the Latin language.Spread along with the scientific knowledge,they were not only incorporated into Chinese but also caused historic changes in word formation as demonstrated as follows.First,they enlarged the Chinese vocabulary.Second,they enriched the word-formation patterns in Chinese.Third,they added to the connotations of Chinese words.Fourth,they accelerated the development of disyllabic and polysyllabic vocabulary in Chinese.The fifth chapter introduces the relationship between the new words created by Matteo Ricci and the vocabulary system of modern Chinese,and makes a preliminary exploration on the formation of a number of synonymous semantic fields under the influence of concepts words and the antonymous ones affected by different concept words chose by vocabulary sets.The sixth part is the conclusion.The conclusion is that the word formation mode of imitation words produced by translation is relatively fixed,forming a large number of new words with modifier-head structure,and most of these new words have been involved in modern Chinese.These words have relatively fixed structure and high productivity,which makes the formation of new words systematic and easy to understand,and promotes the development of "lexical words(words generated temporarily)".Words are carriers of concepts.These new words are also the carriers of modern concepts,Therefore,the study of new terminology is significant for disciplines that emerged in recent years.The record of the emergence,popularization and definition of modern neologisms is of significance for modern disciplines.The combination of research on new terms and the history of natural science shows us new possibilities for greater achievement.