Allen Xiao, Native speaker of Chinese,always trying to learn a bit more about my language
Answered Mar 17, 2016
There's a pretty interesting(pseudo)historical anecdote that seeks to explain why- in fact, it's so obscurethat I had to ask my uncle, a major in Chinese literature, to confirm it!
The story goes that emperor Qianlong wasvisiting a market, and asked an old man: 'why does your store sell 东西-east/west- and not 南北- south/north?'
To which the shopkeeper responded:'North iswater, south is fire. East is wood and west is metal. And my basket can onlyhold the last two things. So I could only sell what's from east and west, andnothing else!' (Note that in the traditional conception of Feng shui, thedirections really were associated with the aforementioned elements)
Amazed, Qianlong paid his respects to thiswise man and apologised for his arrogance.
这里面有一个非常有意思的历史故事，可以解释这个问题，但是我不很清楚，所以询问了中国文学专业的叔叔。
故事是这样的，有一天乾隆来到一个市场里，问一个老人：为什么你商店里卖东西（东和西）而不卖南北（南和北）？这名店主回答道：北是水，南是火。东是木，西是金。我的篮子只能装下后面两样东西。所以我只能卖来自东边和西边的东西。在传统的风水概念里，每一个方向都和上面所提到的事物相关联）
乾隆感到惊讶，向这位智者表达了敬意，并为自己的无知道歉。
What's more interesting is that thehistorical era for this anecdote vary- other sources give it as Zhu Xi (afamous Ming Dynasty scholar) visiting a friend. However, the bulk of the storyis still the same, indicating a rather popular folk etymology for the word,which has held itself throughout hundreds of years of transmission.
As colourful as it is, there's probably amore banal explanation. Around the 15th century, China really began tradingwith the world, and it so happened that most of her trade goods came from theeastern and western oceans (ie Japan and Arabia). Markets sold 'wares from theeast and the west', becoming simplified to 'east-west wares' and eventually'east-west'. Alternatively, it was just a simplification of 东西南北中 (thefour directions plus the centre), which once again would indicate that one'swares came from all directions. Compare this to 春秋, which couldeither mean a specific period in Chinese history or 'the ages/seasons of life'in general- this being a truncation of 春夏秋冬.
东西 itself seems to be a recent invention anyway. In Classical Chineseit was 物事, or 'Objects and affairs', and it was only until the Ming Dynastythat 东西 was used as a compound/substitute in relation to 物事.
更有意思的是这个故事到底发生在哪里历史时期有着不同的说法。有的说是朱熹访问朋友时发生的。故事内容差不多是一样。
虽然丰富多样，但是还是有一个比较平凡的解释。大约15世纪左右，中国开始和世界贸易，大部分的贸易商品来自东洋和西洋（即日本和阿拉伯）。市场里销售的物品来自东洋和西洋，所以就简化成“东西物品”，再后来简化成“东西”。或者说，它是东西南北中的简化，指的是某人的物品来自各个方向。比如“春秋”可以指中国历史上的某个时期，或者指生命里的年龄——截取自春夏秋冬。
东西本身貌似是近来的发明。在古汉语里，叫物事，直到明朝东西才用来替代物事。
Hong Zhang, edit
Answered Mar 15, 2016
One story is that 'dōng xi' datesfrom Tang Dynasty, whose capital was located in 'cháng ān', as yousee in the picture below.
Chang'an Imperial City was located in thenorth, surrounded by many oblong 'fāng, lanes' and 'shì,market' enclosed by high walls. In the east and west of Chang'an City,there were two markets, namely dōng shì, East Market and xī shì, West Market.They were both a large goods distributing centre. At that time, residents wereforbidden to buy goods along the roadside, so they had to go to the East Marketor West Market instead. Shopping at the East Market was called 'mǎi dōng',and 'mǎi xī' at the West Market. As time passes, 'dōng xi'has become a word meaning goods and then the phrase 'mǎi dōng xī' hasspread far and wide.
有一个故事说的是东西源于唐朝，当时首都是长安。长安皇城位于北边，被很多长方形的坊和市围绕着，外面还有高墙包围着。在长安城的西边和东边，有两个大市场，即东市和西市。二者都是大型的商品分配中心。当时，居民禁止在路边买东西，所以必须去东市或者西市。在东市买东西叫做“买冬”，在西市购物叫做“买西”。所以东西就演变成了商品的代名词，然后“买东西”这个词就得到了广泛的传播。
联系客服
