Abstract

Jihe Yuanben is the first Chinese translation of western famous mathematical work. It is generally recognized that due to the huge differences in grammatical structure, style, words and semantics between Chinese and Latin, and the translation should have been almost an ‘impossible mission' for Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi. Therefore, how to translate a Western scientific masterwork transcending the language barrier? And how to further transmit in an alien culture? To answer these questions, the first thing is to reveal how Ricci and Xu translated Clavius' Latin Euclidis Elementorum Libri XⅤ into Chinese Jihe Yuanben. This paper has taken 36 definitions from Volume Ⅰ of Jihe Yuanben as an example, and explains in aspects of the terminology, meaning contrast of Latin and Chinese, statement deconstruction and the definition analysis. Studies have shown that the great efforts made by Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi have succeeded in achieving in the receptor language, the closest natural equivalent of source language message, in terms of meaning and style. By means of classical Chinese, Matteo Ricci and Xu Guangqi have reconstructed the reductive and axiomatic system. Jihe Yuanben takes a remarkable meaning in cultural communication between China and the West.

Key Words

Jihe Yuanben; Definitions; Translation; Christopher Clavius; Matteo Ricci; Xu Guangqi

Citation: Ji, Z. 'From Latin to Chinese: Analysis on Chinese Translation of Definitions in the First Volume of Jihe Yuanben' [J]. Journal of Dialectics of Nature, 2017, 39(2): 1-9.

Download: From Latin to Chinese: Analysis on Chinese Translation of Definitions in the First Volume of Jihe Yuanben