論“每”的語義發展

Discussion on the semantic development of “每”

According to the early literature about 每, we can find various pronunciations and meanings. The original meaning of měi is “women’s hair decorations are luxuriant and beautiful”. Afterward, wrongly taken to mean “flourish”, and all of the měi’s meanings are originate from this. This assay attempt to investigate the relationship between every meaning of měi, and try to put forward the possibility of evolution. Lastly, we investigate manifestation in the early Chinese texts and try to sort out the meanings development pathway.

根據文獻可知“每”字擁有多種音義用法，而其本義為“女性髮飾盛美”，之后被誤認為表“繁盛”之義，而其他的語義皆來自於“繁盛”義。本文意圖通過考察“每”字各音義的關係以及發展出新語義的可能性，以及“每”字各種用法在典籍中的表現，進一步理清語義引申的脈路。