On Translating Notions About "Freedom","Equality" And "Democracy" In Two Translations In The Late Qing Dynasty Based On Comparative Etymology

With the introduction of Western learning in the late Qing Dynasty,there are a great deal of translated works on Western modern thoughts,such as "Freedom","Equality" and "Democracy".At that time,both Chinese and Western scholars translated numerous works about these notions,and brought them to China,to promote the development of democratic thoughts.However,the study of translation in the late Qing Dynasty started too late to have sufficient influence.It did however,have significance in the research of the translations studies in the late Qing Dynasty,which traces back to the emergence and development of democratic thoughts in China at that time.Therefore,this thesis firstly studies the translating of "Freedom","Equality","Democracy" and other related notions in two translation works in the late Qing Dynasty,which fills the blank in this research field.This study takes Yan Fu's translation masterpiece On Liberty and the serial articles On Freedom published in Chinese Globe Magazine as research objects,and aims to analyze the meaning of the notions related to "Freedom","Equality" and "Democracy"in these two works.With the help of comparative etymology,this thesis compares the different translations of the these notions between Maclin's and Yan Fu's works,and their corresponding translations in contemporary and classic Chinese.This thesis explores the characteristics of two translators' usages of words and finds out their diction strategy by analyzing the root and affix of the source text and comparing various translations.There are five chapters in total in this thesis.In addition to Introduction and Conclusion,there are three chapters,of which chapter three and chapter four are the main body.Chapter two is Literature Review,mainly introducing the development,main points of comparative etymology,and summarizing the previous studies on"Freedom","Equality","Democracy" and other related notions.In Chapter three,after sorting out the different translation versions of“Freedom","Equality" and "Democracy"in On Freedom and Social Statics,it is found that the connotation of these three words have been constantly developed and expanded during translation activities.When comparing the etymology between Chinese and English,the author finds that even those words which are not in conformity with the norms of contemporary Chinese still have their basis for translation in the process of etymology.Chapter four summarizes the different translation versions of the related notions in these two translated works,and compares these translations with contemporary Chinese.After the research in the former two chapters,it is not difficult to get the conclusion that translators in the late Qing Dynasty tended to choose vintage,descriptive and exaggerated words and those words which were not commonly used in the late Qing Dynasty in order to avoid repetition and misunderstanding with the words used at that time.Researching on the translations of "Freedom","Equality","Democracy" and other related notions,this thesis attempts to compare the different translation versions of the words,to explore the etymological connotation in translation activity in the late Qing Dynasty,and to provide a deeper recognition and understanding of the development of these words.Moreover,this thesis could provide reference on studies translations in the late Qing Dynasty and translation studies under the guidance of comparative etymology.