“以”表“认为”义的一组例子: ——兼论“以”的“太”意义不可靠

Abstract

摘要:《孟子》“三月无君则吊,不以急乎”的“以”一般解释为“太”, 它与同书“不以泰乎”的“以”同处于“副词+以+形容词(+乎)”结构中,因而意义是一样的。后者的下文“非其道,则一箪食不可受于人;如其道,则舜受尧之天下,不以为泰。子以为泰乎”又可证明“不以 泰乎”即“不以为泰乎”,从而也证明“不以急乎”即“不以为急乎”。共时文献中存在大量“以……为……”格式的句子,当“以”的宾语 所指的事物、事件在紧接着的上文出现过时,该格式便衍生出“ 以为……”格式。这一格式又衍生出了“以……”格式。若干“以+形容词”和“以为+形容词”句分布条件类似,能够证明这一点。一些古汉语虚词词典中将“以、已”释为副词,意义为“太”的例子都可分解:其中“以”或为“以为”之省,或为介词,或应读为“已”; 而“已”则都是“已经”的意思。ABSTRACT:In “三月无君则吊,不以急乎” (Did not this condoling, on being three months unemployed by a ruler, show a too great urgency to you?) from Mencius, “ 以 ” is commonly interpreted as 太 (too), bearing the same connotation with the “以” in “不以泰乎” (is it too excessive), also from Mencius, in an identical structure “adverb+ 以+adjective(+ 乎)”. The contexts of “不以泰乎”, “如其道,则舜受尧之天下,不以为泰。子以为泰乎” (Shun accepted the Empire from Yao without considering it to be excessive, when it was in accordance with the Way. Or perhaps you consider even this to be excessive?) could provide an indication that “不以泰乎” means “consider even this to be excessive” and further suggests that “不以急乎” means “consider it to be a great urgency”. There has been a myriad of sentences with the pattern of “以...为...” (consider... to be..) in the synchronic literature. The pattern “以为...” (consider as...) arose from the cases where the objective of “以” in “以...为...” referred to something or event that had appeared shortly prior to the context. The pattern “以...” (consider...) derived from the pattern of “以为”. It could be well demonstrated in the similar distribution in “以+adjective” and “以为+adjective”. In some dictionaries of ancient Chinese function words, “以” and “ 已 ” as two synonym adverbs indicating “too” 太 . And yet the instances gave in the dictionary could all be dissembled: in the first cases, “以(consider)” could be regarded as omitted expression of “以为”; in the second, it could be seen as a preposition in Chinese; or it should be seen as the equivalent of “已”, bearing the meaning of “already”.