近代關鍵詞考源：保守、進步、進化、退化、退步

Abstract

Focusing on the word ＂進化＂, this paper explored the origin of a group of key words which belongs to the Semantic field of advancement historiography. ＂進化＂, a Chinese word that translated from Japanese, is also the word that promoted the appearance of other words. For example, the word ＂退化＂ is the analogical form of ＂進化＂; in Chinese, the words ＂保守＂、＂進步＂、＂退步＂ are verbs, however, they were endowed with new significance, and gained usages as noun and adjective. Many key words in modern times, like ＂Science, Savagery, civilization＂ and so on, were all changed their parts of speech more or less. This paper also combed the above words` process of translation between Chinese and Japanese.