Ethnos(民族)和Ethnic group(族群)的早期含义与应用

英文ethnic是希腊语ethnos拉丁化的形容词形式 ,对应中文的直译可理解为“族”或“族的” ,属于人类社会“族类共同体”应用范畴。该词在英文中没有形成名词形式 ,在与group连用后形成了复合名词ethnicgroup形式。在 2 0世纪 6 0年代中期以后 ,ethnicgroup一词在美国和西欧国家的社会学、人类学和政治学等学科流行开来 ,用以分析这些国家基于种族、民族、语言、宗教、文化、习俗等要素基础上的“认同群体”。 2 0世纪 80年代以后 ,ethnicgroup这一术语在世界范围流行开来 ,在引入中国人类学、民族学界时 ,中文翻译为“民族”、“民族集团”、“种族”、“族裔群体”和“族群”等 ,其中以“族群”最为通行。但是 ,学界在研究和应用这一术语时 ,缺乏对ethnos及其派生的ethnic和ethnicgroup源流的关注。本文就这一术语在西方国家早期 (2 0世纪 70年代以前 )的含义演变和应用情况做一梳理 ,并指出了这一术语的流行属于西方国家“族类政治化”裂变的产物及其表现出的“后现代”话语的特点 ,以期为进一步研究这一术语在西方国家广泛应用的社会背景作一铺垫

Early Meanings and Application of the Terms "Ethnos" and "Ethnic Group"

The English word "ethnic" is the Latinized adjective form of the Greek word "ethnos". It can be understood as "zu" or "of zu" in Chinese, and it belongs to the "group community" of human society in application category. The word has no its noun derivative, but is used together with the word "group", thus forming the phrase "ethnic group". In the mid 1960s, the term "ethnic group" became prevalent in the disciplines such as sociology, anthropology and political science in the United States and Western European countries. It was used in these countries to analyze the "identified group" based on the factors such as race, nationality, language, religion, culture and customs. In the 1980s the phrase "ethnic group" became prevalent in the world. When introduced into China, it was translated into "minzu", "minzu jituan", "zhongzu", "zuyi qunti" or "zuqun" , among which "zuqun" is the most general translation. However, there has been lack of study on the origination and evolution of the word "ethnos" and its derivatives, "ethnic" and "ethnic group", since they were introduced into the academia of China. This paper makes an explanation of the term "ethnic group" in terms of its meaning evolution and application at the early stage (pre 1970s) in the West. It points out that the prevalence of these term resulted from the fission of the "ethnic politicization" in the Western countries and expressed the feature of "post modern" discourse. This paper aims at paving the way for further researches of the wide application and social background of the term in the West.