Chinese etymology 世界

Calling all Chinese linguists and etymological scholars!! :bow:

I have a hunch that the word 世界 (shi4 jie4, meaning “world” in modern Chinese) was coined by Kumarajiva (who headed the team that translated the Buddhist sutras into Chinese in the early 7th century) as a translation of the Sanskrit term lokadhatu (world). Elsewhere in the sutras, [i]lokah /i is rendered as 世, and [i]dhatu /i is rendered as 界 by Kumarajiva. My hunch is that the word 世界 started out as an esoteric Buddhist term but was subsequently adopted into the vernacular.

Am I off base? Is 世界 attested before Kumarajiva?

[quote=“Chris”]
Am I off base? Is 世界 attested before Kumarajiva?[/quote]

This from the Chinese wiki entry seems to suggest “no.”

今天中文中,所使用的世界一詞來源於佛經,並非現代名詞,追溯其源頭乃出於佛教。「世」為時間意,「界」為空間意,涵蓋了時間空間不可分隔的道理。這正符合了愛因斯坦的相對論,中國古代形容大千世界則多用「天下」一詞,並無世界。蓋因世界乃佛教名詞,如今被廣為用之,但應當了解這個名詞的來源。據楞嚴經卷四載,世,即遷流之義;界,指方位。即於時間上有過去、現在、未來三世之遷流,空間上有東南西北、上下十方等定位場所之意。佛教中的世界一詞,非僅僅指地球而指整個宇宙而言,如今一般使用的「世界」一詞則專指地球而言。

Thank you!! This supports my hunch.

Quick & dirty translation:

“The word 世界 in today’s Chinese language comes from the Buddhist sutras. It is not a modern word; its origins are traced back to Buddhism. 世 means time and 界 means space*; thus it covers the inseparability of time and space. This happens to be consistent with Einstein’s theory of relativity. The word used in ancient China to describe the chiliocosm [大千世界] was 天下, not 世界. A Buddhist term, 世界 is now widely used, but we should be aware of the source of the term. According to Volume 4 of the Surangama Sutra, 世 means flow and 界 means direction. That is, the flow of time comprises the triloka [three realms]–past, present and future–and space comprises the dasadisa [ten directions]–north, south, east, west, zenith, nadir, etc. In Buddhism the word 世界 refers not just to the Earth but to the entire universe, but in general parlance the word 世界 specifically refers to the Earth.”

  • The original meaning of 世 is “generation”, ultimately from 葉 “leaf”. Its meaning is extended to mean “world”. 界 actually means “boundary”. (Ref.: ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese)

[quote=“Chris”]

Am I off base? Is 世界 attested before Kumarajiva?[/quote]

Chris,

Why are you interested in this stuff? I’m just getting into it now. The interface between the 佛典 and language is fascinating.

It seems 世界 predates 鳩摩羅什:

佛說大乘菩薩藏正法經卷第二十七
西天譯經三藏銀青光祿大夫試光祿卿慈覺傳梵大師賜紫沙門臣法護等奉 詔譯

“乃至廣說無量世界一切有情。”

I guess I’m just a language geek…

My hunch came from seeing a passage somewhere with 世界 and lokadhatu next to each other, and then the gears in my head started turning.

That article quoted above says that 天下 was used in more ancient times.

[quote=“archylgp”]It seems 世界 predates 鳩摩羅什:

佛說大乘菩薩藏正法經卷第二十七
西天譯經三藏銀青光祿大夫試光祿卿慈覺傳梵大師賜紫沙門臣法護等奉 詔譯
“乃至廣說無量世界一切有情。”[/quote]
Who translated that one into Chinese?

竺法護

鳩摩羅什 also translated lokadhatu as 世界 .

十住毘婆沙論卷第六
聖者龍樹造
後秦龜茲國三藏鳩摩羅什

“恒河沙世界 乃自不容受”

竺法護 predates 鳩摩羅什, however.

If you’re interested cbeta.org/ is great. It just takes a bit of getting used to.

The 《大正新脩大藏經》is a Japanese collection of earlier translations of the 大藏經。It’s reliable. As 湖湘榮 put it:

"《大正新脩大藏經》校訂縝密,印刷精良,是目前通行的較好版本。”

I also found 界世. It’s not uncommon for disyllabic words to have a reverse order (同素異序)in the 佛典. Sometimes there are not any differences between the two varieties. However, most often the different varieties perform different syntactic functions. Bellow 界世性 is an adj. 'worldly '.

“願十方法[color=#FF0000]界世性[/color]六道。三業罪障垢惑眾生。”(《宋罽賓三藏》求那跋摩譯)

Very cool to see Chinese language discussions of this level! And damn impressive.

[quote=“archylgp”]If you’re interested cbeta.org/ is great. It just takes a bit of getting used to.
[/quote]
Thanks for all your info!

Bookmarked.

:notworthy: