『世界國盡』의 외국지명 표기에 대한 고찰

Abstract

This paper gives an analysis of Kanji notation of the foreign country place names introduced in 『Sekai Kunizukushi』, one of Hukuzawa Yukichi's works. The results of it are as follows. First of all, Kanji notations of the foreign country place names used in 『Sekai Kunizukushi』`can be bisected: notations before 『Sekai Kunizukushi』 and coined notations from 『Sekai Kunizukushi』. The former are general ones used in existing translations. They are place names as universal notations in early Meiji era although they are from Hukuzawa yukichi's standard. Chinese notations which have a long history as Kanji notations, take up a considerable part of these place names. Unlike this, the latter are that Kanji corresponds to each Japanese pronunciation, which is the formation to combine meaning and sound of Kanji freely. Using Kanji closely related to real life, the notations introduce world's place names. It shows his effort to try to make Japanese style notations and deliver foreign country place names familiarly to not only a part of class but also ordinary people. These notations are known to everyone through direct interact with westerners during Bakunatsu and early Meiji. However, it is hard to find the notations made from 『Sekai Kunizukushi』 in Japanese dictionaries. There are two reasons. The first reason is that place names are lengthened more than needs. In case of using Kanji's sound, the number of Kanji can be increased according to the Japanese pronunciation. The second reason is that it gives trouble how to read kanji if a place name has both kanji's sound and meaning. So, it is unsuitable to express proper nouns, place names, by using the method. In conclusion, it can be supposed to register only place names using fixed kanji's sound in dictionaries.