‘廁’의 通時的 語義 變化 硏究

A Diachronic Study on the Semantic Change of ‘cè (廁)’

본고는 ‘廁’가 지닌 다층적 의미와 그 변천 과정을 통시적 관점에서 분석하여, 중국어 어휘의 역사적 발전 양상과 언어 변화의 패턴을 밝히고자 한다. 이를 위해 역대 문헌에 등장하는 ‘廁’의 다양한 용례를 폭넓게 수집하고, ‘변소’, ‘섞이다/섞다’, ‘돼지우리’, ‘구석’ 등 핵심 의미 범주를 설정하여 정리, 분석하였다. 또한 역대 학자들의 주석과 해설을 면밀히 검토하는 한편, ‘溷’, ‘側’ 등 ‘廁’와 긴밀히 연관된 어휘들과 비교, 분석함으로써, 의미 확장의 평행성과 상호 작용 양상을 살펴보았다. 이를 통해 어휘의 의미가 확장되고 축소되는 과정과 그에 따른 중국어 어휘 체계의 역사적 변화를 조망하고자 한다.

This study conducts a detailed analysis of the various meanings and usages of the Chinese character ‘廁’, tracing its processes of semantic expansion and reduction to understand the diachronic development of Chinese vocabulary and identify patterns in language change. To achieve this, we collected a broad range of textual examples of ‘廁’ from historical documents, categorized its major meanings based on these data, and examined annotations and interpretations by historical scholars to analyze the relationships among the character’s extended meanings. Additionally, this study compares related terms closely associated with ‘廁,’ such as ‘溷’ and ‘側’, exploring parallelism and interaction among terms in the semantic expansion of Chinese vocabulary. The findings reveal that ‘廁’ is cognate with ‘側,’ sharing the concept of “deviation from the center.” Originally denoting a secluded place within a building, ‘廁’ evolved to encompass meanings such as “corner,” “edge,” “toilet,” and “pigsty.” As a verb, ‘廁’ denotes actions like “to mix,” “to insert,” or “to blend,” reflecting the function of toilets as spaces where multiple people’s excretions are combined. While ‘側’ initially conveyed a concept of relative positioning, with ‘廁’ gradually becoming fixed in the meaning of “toilet,” ‘側’ increasingly took on the meanings of “corner” and “edge.”