<p>No, it's a transliteration.</p>

<p>The Chinese term「邏輯」first appeared in a Chinese translation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_System_of_Logic" rel="nofollow noreferrer">John Stuart Mill's <em>A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive</em></a>. The Chinese translation title is 《穆勒名學》 by 嚴復, and the Chinese word「邏輯」is directly explained there:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>案邏輯此翻名學。其名義始於希臘。為邏各斯一根之轉。邏各斯一名兼二義。在心之意。出口之詞。皆以此名。引而申之。則為論為學。故今日泰西諸學。<strong>其西名多以羅支結響。羅支即邏輯也。</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<hr>

<p>To add, the only manner of any kind of semantic matching is「輯」(<em>compile</em>), which is the explanation of「邏各斯」turning into「邏輯」. From the same paragraph:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>...<strong>故邏各斯名義最為奧衍</strong>。而本學之所以稱邏輯者。以如貝根言。是學為一切法之法。一切學之學。明其體之尊。<strong>為用之廣。則變邏各斯為邏輯以名之。</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<p>but this isn't a semantic matching of the Greek root, and more a semantic matching of the rather wide application of the suffix <em>-ology</em>.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-13T04:42:21.870Z
2019-10-13T05:21:33.113Z
2019-10-13T05:21:33.113Z
dROOOze
<p>Wiktionary has the following entry for the etymology of 邏輯:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Phono-semantic matching of English logic. </p>
</blockquote>

<p>However, the Chinese Wikipedia entry states the following:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>當代中文一般採取音譯方式，將其譯為邏輯。 </p>
</blockquote>

<p>Which seems to imply there isn't sort of semantic hint in the Chinese translation. Looking at the invidiual characters 邏 (who's meanings revolve around <em>to patrol</em>) and 輯 (<em>to collect</em>, <em>to compile</em>, etc.), I fail to see any semantic hints. Is the Chinese word 邏輯 actually a phono-semantic matching of the English word logic? If so, what is the semantic connection bewteen the two words?</p>

<characters><etymology><loanwords>
Is 邏輯 a phono-semantic matching of the English word logic?
# Is 邏輯 a phono-semantic matching of the English word logic?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-10-02)

Wiktionary has the following entry for the etymology of 邏輯:

> Phono-semantic matching of English logic.

However, the Chinese Wikipedia entry states the following:

> 當代中文一般採取音譯方式，將其譯為邏輯。

Which seems to imply there isn't sort of semantic hint in the Chinese translation. Looking at the invidiual characters 邏 (who's meanings revolve around *to patrol*) and 輯 (*to collect*, *to compile*, etc.), I fail to see any semantic hints. Is the Chinese word 邏輯 actually a phono-semantic matching of the English word logic? If so, what is the semantic connection bewteen the two words?

**Tags:** characters, etymology, loanwords


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-10-13. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

No, it's a transliteration.

The Chinese term「邏輯」first appeared in a Chinese translation of [John Stuart Mill's *A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_System_of_Logic). The Chinese translation title is 《穆勒名學》 by 嚴復, and the Chinese word「邏輯」is directly explained there:

> 案邏輯此翻名學。其名義始於希臘。為邏各斯一根之轉。邏各斯一名兼二義。在心之意。出口之詞。皆以此名。引而申之。則為論為學。故今日泰西諸學。**其西名多以羅支結響。羅支即邏輯也。**

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To add, the only manner of any kind of semantic matching is「輯」(*compile*), which is the explanation of「邏各斯」turning into「邏輯」. From the same paragraph:

> ...**故邏各斯名義最為奧衍**。而本學之所以稱邏輯者。以如貝根言。是學為一切法之法。一切學之學。明其體之尊。**為用之廣。則變邏各斯為邏輯以名之。**

but this isn't a semantic matching of the Greek root, and more a semantic matching of the rather wide application of the suffix *-ology*.


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