著者

陳 贇

出版者

関西大学文化交渉学教育研究拠点

雑誌

東アジア文化交渉研究 = Journal of East Asian Cultural Interaction Studies (ISSN:18827748)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.1, pp.347-363, 2008-03-31

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The Kango (kanji-based) loanword “Eiei” was a word that, in the original Chinese, had a negative connotation and meant “continuously coming and going”. But when it was accepted into Japanese, it became a term with the positive connotation in its use chiefly as an adverb. At that time, it can be thought that the change in the usage and style from “Eiei to shite” to “Eiei to” also played a role. It can be thought that the meaning of “continually” that is generated in that meaning of the word was also behind such a semantic change. Moreover, it can be considered that, as a result of Eiei (営々) acquiring the meaning of “continually”, it became synonymous with its homonym, the “eiei” (永々) used from old, and, consequently, “eiei” (永々) became subsumed and absorbed into Eiei (営々), thus resulting in a substitution of those words.