“经线(子午线)”“纬线”“经度”“纬度”探源

明末清初,意大利传教士利玛窦来华,他给中国带来的不只是基督教,还有西方的科学,如地理学、天文学等。他创制了不少名词,如“经线(子午线)”“纬线”“经度”“纬度”等,这些名词一直沿用至今,而且成为中日两国相关学科中的标准术语。

Traceability of “jingxian(ziwuxian)”“weixian” “jingdu” and “weidu”

European geography and astronomy had been introduced into China by the Jesuits in the 17th century. The terms “jingxian”,“ziwuxian”(meridian),“weixian”(parallel),“jingdu”(longitude),“weidu”(latitude)were coined in Chinese by Matteo Ricci's Kunyu Wanguo Quantu(World Map, 1602)and Hungai Tongxian Tushuo(Astronomy, 1607),and afterward the terms became the Chinese and Japanese standard terms of the geography and astronomy.