Page:Essays on the Chinese Language (1889).djvu/342



next subject to be considered in our studies in the Chinese language is the existence of foreign elements in its vocabulary. It has been often said, and the statement may be accepted, that the number of words in this language which are not native is very small in proportion to those which are native. Indeed if the student of Chinese literature confines his reading to such books as treat only of Confucianism, Taoism and other matters which are peculiar to the country he may find few or no foreign expressions. But on the other hand he cannot read the great poets nor study the books of history, geography and the natural sciences without meeting here and there with words and phrases which are not native. It is true, as Schott has pointed out, that these foreign terms are chiefly of a technical character and that generally they are described as foreign. But is not by any means uncommon to find a Chinese author introduce a “barbarian” phrase in native disguise and without any hint to the reader that it is other than native. The poets especially seem to indulge in this practice and to think it is within the scope of their licence. And even when an author tells us that a word he uses is taken from a particular language it is seldom that he has been at pains to learn whether his statement is correct. Nor is it usually in his power to do this, the needful information not being accessible. In the ordinary orthodox literature until a comparatively modern period all ethnographical distribution was of a character simple and comprehensive but vague and fanciful. It was based on the old teachings of the canonical scriptures which none had called in question. In the Middle Kingdom lived the “people” blessed with the arts of civilisation and inheritors of high wisdom handed down without interruption from immemorial antiquity. Outside the hills and streams which