紀要『英語表現研究』：英文梗概

最終更新日時：Sunday, February 26, 20069:53:14 PM

日本英語表現学会紀要『英語表現研究』第 21 号英文梗概

English Usage and Style No.21 Synopsis

Nature and the Japanese Equivalent, Shizen

―― A Study from the Word ME kynde ――

Yoshiko Asaka

In the 19th century, the English word‘nature’and its Western concept was first equated with the Japanese word‘shizen’and its concept. The difference between the English concept of nature and its Japanese translation, ‘shizen’「自然」will be pursued. The focus will be on whether or not‘nature’includes human beings and things man-made. In Western thought, especially after the Middle Ages, nature became an object to be observed, controlled and conquered by human beings, while Japanese‘shizen’has been more or less pantheistic, and man is considered as part of it. In order to find a difference,‘nature’in the Middle English period (ME kynde and ME nature) will be explored through the works of Chaucer and Langland.