人体部位词“头”的语义演变

The Semantic Evolution of the Body-Part Term “Tou” in Chinese

摘要: 人体部位词“头”作为汉语核心基础词汇，其语义系统经历了漫长的历时演变，形成了兼具具象与抽象、单一与多元的语义网络。本文以认知语言学隐喻理论、转喻理论为核心框架，通过梳理“头”的本义溯源、语义扩展路径、认知机制及文化内涵，揭示其语义演变的内在规律。研究发现：“头”的语义演变以“人体头部”本义为起点，通过空间隐喻、时间隐喻、性状隐喻等路径实现跨域投射，借助转喻机制完成指称转移，最终形成涵盖实体指称、方位指称、数量指称、抽象概念等多维度的语义体系。

Abstract: As a core fundamental lexical item in Chinese, the body-part term Tou (head) has undergone a long diachronic evolution in its semantic system, culminating in a multifaceted semantic network that integrates both concrete and abstract as well as unitary and plural dimensions. Adopting metaphor theory and metonymy theory from cognitive linguistics as its core theoretical framework, this paper traces the original meaning of Tou, examines its paths of semantic extension, cognitive mechanisms, and cultural connotations, and thereby reveals the internal laws governing its semantic evolution. The findings indicate that the semantic evolution of Tou starts from its basic sense of “the human head”, projects across domains via spatial metaphor, temporal metaphor, and qualitative metaphor, and accomplishes referential shifts through metonymic mechanisms. Ultimately, it forms a multidimensional semantic system encompassing entity reference, locational reference, quantitative reference, and abstract conceptual reference.