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鳥取臨床科学 6(2), 164-186, 2015

宇田川家の人々が現代科学へ残した大きな足跡 ( 3 )

－「酸素」「花粉」「細胞」「珈琲」は誰が作った？本当？「アルコール」を漢字で書か

なくて助かっているのは誰のおかげ？－

小西吉裕*, 荒木紀帆, 小西裕輝, 安東広美, 木下遼子 国立病院機構鳥取医療センター臨床研究部

Historic footsteps of members of the Udagawa Family in modern science (3) - Who created the Japanese terms for “oxygen”, “pollen”, “cell”, and “coffee”? Can you believe

this? Who decided not to use Chinese characters to express “alcohol” in Japanese? -

Yoshihiro Konishi,* Kiho Araki, Hiroki Konishi, Hiromi Ando, Ryoko Kinoshita Department of Clinical Research, NHO Tottori Medical center

*Correspondence:

要旨

宇田川玄随の遺志は養子の玄真に引き継がれた. その安岡玄真を玄随の養子にと提案したのは

玄随の門人の大垣藩医の江沢養樹であった. その江沢養樹の一子, 「榕（榕菴）」が玄真の養子とな

った. 榕菴は子供の頃から植物に非常な興味があり, オランダの書物に載っている一つの植物に興

味を持った. それは「コーヒー」であり, その日本語表記の「珈琲」は榕菴が考えた字と言われて

いる. 「珈」も「琲」も以前からある漢字であったが, 「珈」は女性の髪を飾る玉飾り, 「琲」は玉

飾りの紐を意味した語で, 「珈琲」はコーヒーの木に真っ赤なコーヒー・チェリーが実っている様

子を表現したものであるという. 榕菴の大きな仕事の一つが西洋の植物学を我が国に導入したこと

である. この時まで日本には, もっぱら薬として利用できるものだけに限り, 薬品として利用可能

か, どういう効能があるのかを調べるだけの本草学しかなかったが, 榕菴は西洋にはそれとは全く

違う植物に関する学問「植物学」があるのを知った. 西洋の「植物学」では, 人の病気に役立つか

否かは関係なく, 植物全てを形状で分類し, 外見だけでなく顕微鏡で内部の微細構造を調べ, 植物

も動物のように呼吸し受粉によって繁殖する仕組みが研究されていることに驚いた. 榕菴は顕微鏡

とドイツ語のSprengelが著した『植物学入門』を Siebold から手に入れ, それを基に『植學啓原』を

訳述した. これが榕菴を我が国の自然科学史上に不朽の名を輝かせている理由の一つである. 榕菴

が『植學啓原』の訳述において「属（Linné の分類法, genus を指す）」, 「花粉」, 「柱頭」, 「花

柱」, 「葯」, 「繊維」, 「細胞」などの術語を作ったと言われているが諸説・異論もあり, 「花粉」

は伊藤圭介が著した『泰西本草名疏』に最初に出てくることから, 先に出版した圭介の作とするの

が一般的である. 圭介はSieboldの元で学びLinné 分類体系を初めて日本の植物に当てはめて紹介し

たが, Sieboldの前に榕菴の元で学んでおり,「花粉」という語は圭介と榕菴のどちらが先というので

はなく, 両人が共有していた可能性もあるのではないかという意見もある. 「細胞」は『植學啓原』

が最初であるが, 本文中に1箇所出てきているに過ぎない. 「纎維」や「花粉」の場合は「…. 纎維

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ト曰フ.」, 「花粉, 黄色ノ細粉ナリ.」と明確に言葉を定義しているいるように, 『植學啓原』では

積極的に術語を作って概念化し, 明確に提示する傾向が強く, その点では「細胞」の定義が明確で

なく, 現在我々が用いている cell の訳語としての「細胞」とは余りにも隔たりがあり過ぎ, 榕菴が

使った「細胞」は, 将に植物の茎の中を縦に走る管が断面で多数の「細かな胞」に見えたことを形

容する語として用いたに過ぎないという指摘がある.

榕菴の2つ目の大きな仕事は, 当時はまだ誰も手を付けていなかった舎密に関するものである.

榕菴は多くの西洋の化学書を参考にして, 日本初の体系的化学書であり, 江戸時代最大かつ最高の

自然科学書である『舎密開宗』を出版した. 本書は我が国の西洋科学の導入に最大の影響をもたら

したと評価されている. 榕菴は出典の書の記載事実について多くの実験を行って確認しており, そ

の実験結果も随所に述べ, 多くの文献を参考にし, 科学的内容を正確に理解, 判断し, 術語を作り,

実験を行い, その改良法を考案して書き上げたのである. 榕菴の『舎密開宗』が現代に残した一番

大きな影響は, 現在我々が使っている化学用語の多くが, 榕菴が考え出したものという点である.

元素名の「水素」, 「酸素」などは榕菴が作り出し, 今日の我々が踏襲している. 元素名で現代の我々

が榕菴に感謝しなくてはならないのは, この様な和名の元素名は数語に留め, 多くの金属名には日

本語への意訳を避けて, 例えば, 「箇抜爾多」, 「尼結爾」, 「亜律密鳥母」など, 賢明にもオラン

ダ語をそのまま音訳したことである. これらは今日, それぞれ, 「コバルト」, 「ニッケル」, 「ア

ルミニウム」とされていて, 単に漢字がカタカナに変っただけで, 現在そのまま用法が残っている.

爆発的に増えて来ている化合物の和名にこの榕菴の原則が適用されて今日に至っており, 我々は今

後も新しい化学物質にいちいち和名を捻り出す煩を免れたのである. もし, 全て和名が付けられて

いたら, 現在の中国のようにこれら化合物名を全て自国語で置き換えるという非常に煩雑で負担の

大きなものになっていたであろう. また, 「塩酸」, 「塩素」も『舎密開宗』で見られ, 榕菴の命名

によるが, 現在もその影響が強く残っている例として認識されている. いずれも当時のオランダ語

の直訳により「塩酸」, 「塩素」とされたが, 現在の英語表記は hydrochloric acid で, 本来は「塩化

水素酸」とすべきところであった. 現在諸外国は, 塩素の元素名を chlorine に基づき命名を改め,

また塩酸も塩化水素酸という意味の語に改めた. 今のオランダでさえ改めており, 日本だけが古い

ままの意味を表す「塩酸」, 「塩素」を未だ使用している. そこには榕菴の『舎密開宗』の影響が

今も大きく存在しているからとされている. 無機化合物の命名法についても, 今なお, 榕菴の命名

法が強く残っている, 例えば「塩酸曹達（塩酸ソーダ）」はオランダ語の「chloor sodium」の訳であ

るが, 英語の sodium chloride とは陽イオン‐陰イオンの語順が逆で, ドイツ語, フランス語も同様

である. しかし, 今日, 「塩化ナトリウム」の語順で名前が残ってしまっている. その他, 榕菴が独

力で『舎密開宗』において作った化学用語として, 「試薬」, 「成分」, 「酸化」, 「還元」, 「瓦

斯」, 「温度」, 「結晶」, 「溶液」, 「蔗糖」, 「沈澱」, 「発酵」, 「漂白」の他, 「澱粉」, 「蛋

清」（後に, 川本幸民により「蛋白」と言い換えられた）がある.

明治維新前後の我が国の急速な近代化には, 科学技術, 法律や兵法に関する数多くの西洋の文

物の日本語への翻訳が大きく寄与していた. その翻訳過程で, 日本人は義訳を駆使して大量のテク

ニカル・タームを漢字で次々に作っていったのである. その歴史の流れの中で, 津山藩の宇田川家

の人達が幕末から明治にかけて重要な役割を果たした. 以上のように, 宇田川家の人達の偉業を振

り返るとき, 「宇田川家」はもっと全国に知られてもいい. それだけの偉大な足跡を残したのであ

る. 鳥取臨床科学6(2), 164-186, 2015

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Abstract The will of Genzui Udagawa was carried out by his adopted son, Genshin. The person who advised

Genzui to adopt Genshin Yasuoka as his son was Yoju Ezawa, Genzui’s disciple and the family physician of the Ogaki Domain. Yo (Yoan), one of Yoju Ezawa’s children, was adopted by Genshin. Yoan, who had been greatly interested in plants since his childhood, became interested in a plant described in a Dutch book. It was the “coffee” plant. The use of two Chinese characters to express “coffee” in Japanese is said to have been developed by Yoan, although the two characters themselves had already been used in Japan: one to represent strings of beads attached to the hair of females and the other to express strings used in such ornaments. Yoan used the two Chinese characters to express red coffee cherries on the trees in a figurative way. One of his major achievements was the introduction of Western botany to Japan. At that time, herbalism was the only scientific discipline in Japan to acquire knowledge of plants, and it solely focused on the availabilities and effects of plants as medical drugs. However, Yoan learned that “botany”, a scientific discipline completely different from herbalism, had been established in Western countries. He was surprised with botanical research conducted in the West, including the classification of all types of plant according to their forms, regardless of whether or not they could be used to treat diseases, microscopic examinations of the internal microstructures of plants in addition to their appearances, and research findings including the following mechanisms of plants: they respire as animals do and reproduce themselves by pollination. Yoan obtained a microscope and a book entitled “Introduction to Botany” written by Sprengel in German from Siebold, and translated “Shokugaku-Keigen” based on them. Yoan is renowned as a distinguished scientist in the history of Japanese natural science, partly due to this achievement. Although some researchers suggest that Yoan invented Japanese technical terms using Chinese characters with the meanings such as “genus” (according to the Linné classification method), “pollen”, “stigma”, “style”, “anther”, “fiber”, and “cell” to translate “Shokugaku-Keigen” , others disagree with this. In general, it is believed that Keisuke Ito invented the Japanese term to express “pollen” because it appears in his book entitled “Taisei Honzo Meiso”, which was published earlier than “Shokugaku-Keigen”. Keisuke learned from Siebold, and introduced the Linné classification system to Japan while adapting it to the classification of Japanese plants. However, Keisuke had been a student of Yokan before he met Siebold for the first time. Therefore, the Japanese term for “pollen” could have been used by both Keisuke and Yoan around the same time, and some suggest that it is of no merit to discuss who invented it. “Shokugaku-Keigen” was the first book that used the Japanese term using Chinese characters for a “cell”, although the word appeared in the main text only once. Yoan clearly defined and conceptualized “fibers” and “pollen”, invented Japanese technical terms for them, and presented them in “Shokugaku-Keigen”. On the other hand, he failed to clearly define a “cell”, and the two Chinese characters which Yoan used for the Japanese term hardly expressed the meaning of a cell used in modern cell biology. Some people point out that Yoan chose the two characters, simply because the cross-sectional surface of ducts running vertical in the stems of plants looked like “fine vesicles” to him. Another achievement made by Yoan was the introduction of chemistry to Japan. He wrote and published “Seimi-Kaiso” - Japan’s first chemistry textbook written in a systematic manner and the greatest natural science book in the Edo period. The book is considered to have had a significant influence on the introduction of Western science to Japan. “Seimi-Kaiso” includes the results of many experiments conducted by Yoan to confirm the findings quoted from a number of references. To write “Seimi-Kaiso”, Yoan exerted his efforts to comprehend scientific explanations provided in those references, make judgments, invent technical terms, conduct experiments, and develop methods for improving them. His “Seimi-Kaiso” had a significant influence on modern science in Japan in that most of the chemical terms used now by Japanese people were invented by Yoan. Japanese names for some elements, including “hydrogen” and “oxygen”, were also his inventions. Japanese people today should thank him for his wise decision on the translation of the names of elements. He used Chinese characters as just phonetic symbols to express the sounds of Dutch names of most metal elements, instead of translating them using Chinese characters based on their meanings, except for a few element names such as “hydrogen” and “oxygen” that were translated using Chinese characters expressing the meanings. The Chinese characters as just phonetic symbols for “cobalt”, “nickel”, and “aluminum” were replaced by phonetic katakana characters later, and the translated words are still used in Japan. As the number of chemical substances used in Japan is increasing at a significantly high rate, if

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Yoan had not developed the above-mentioned principle, we would have had much trouble creating Japanese terms with meanings for all new chemicals. Creating Japanese names for them based on their meanings would be hard work, as the Chinese use only Chinese characters with meanings to express everything, including chemicals, from other countries, and readers would have much difficulty understanding those terms. The Japanese terms for “hydrochloric acid” and “chlorine” used in “Seimi-Kaiso” were created by Yoan, and they are still used by Japanese people. Since Yoan translated the old Dutch terms for “hydrochloric acid” and “chlorine” based on their meanings, he used Chinese characters representing “salt and acid” and “salt and element”, respectively. However, he should have used the three Chinese characters representing “chloride”, “hydrogen”, and “acid” to express “hydrochloric acid”. At present, the terms representing “chlorine”, which originates in “chloros” - the color of chlorine gas, and “hydrochloric acid” are used in most countries other than Japan. Even after the Netherlands discontinued using those former terms for “hydrochloric acid” and “chlorine”, Japan is continuing to use the above-mentioned Chinese characters. This reflects the significant influence of “Seimi-Kaiso” written by Yoan. The nomenclature of inorganic compounds was also influenced by Yoan. For example, he translated the Dutch term for sodium hydrochloride: “chloor sodium”, based on its meaning, using four Chinese characters. Whereas the name of a positive ion precedes that of a negative ion in English, German, and French, as in the term “sodium chloride”, they are written in the reverse order in Dutch. As a result, the Japanese term for “chloride” also precedes the word for “sodium”. Other Japanese technical terms in chemistry created by Yoan and published in “Seimi-Kaiso” include: reagent, component, oxidation, reduction, gas, temperature, crystal, solution, saccharose, precipitation, fermentation, bleach, starch, and protein (which was later replaced with another term using different Chinese characters by Komin Kawamoto). Around the Meiji Restoration, the rapid modernization of Japan was promoted by the Japanese translation of technical terms used in science and technology, law, the art of war, and other fields. In the process of the translation of significant numbers of technical terms, Japanese people used Chinese characters to express their meanings. At that historical point at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate through to the Meiji period, members of the Udagawa Family in the Tsuyama Domain played important roles. As suggested by the achievements of members of the “Udagawa Family”, they left historic footsteps in modern science, and should be positively evaluated by a larger number of Japanese people. Tottori J. Clin. Res. 6(2), 164-186, 2015

Key Words: 宇田川榕菴, 珈琲, Siebold, 植學啓原, 花粉, 伊藤圭介, 細胞, 舎密開宗, 元素, 塩酸, 塩

素 , 塩化ナトリウム , 蛋白 , 宇田川家 ; Yoan Udagawa, coffee, Siebold, Shokugaku-Keigen, pollen, Keisuke Ito, cell, Seimi-Kaiso, element, hydrochloric acid, chlorine, sodium chloride, protein, Udagawa Family

1. 宇田川榕菴（1）: 我々が何気なく使ってい

る「珈琲」「細胞」「花粉」等の語を作った. そ

れは本当か？– 榕菴の植物学編 –

宇田川玄随の遺志は養子の玄真に引き継が

れた. その安岡玄真を玄随の養子にと最初に提

案したのは, 玄随の門人の一人, 江戸詰の大垣

藩医の江沢養樹で, それに大槻玄沢, 桂川甫周

が賛成したのであった . その江沢養樹の一子 ,

「榕（榕菴）」が玄真の養子となったのである.

幼い時から非常に利発な子として知られ, 時は

14歳であった. その「榕」がシーボルト（Philipp

Franz von Siebold, 1796–1866）も認めた江戸蘭学

史上最高の科学者の一人に成長するのである .

玄真は榕菴に対して, かつて養父の玄随が玄真

に対してそうであったように, まずは基礎教養

の漢学や漢方医学をしっかり身に付けて, それ

からオランダ語や西洋医学を学ぶよう指導した.

この方法は他の門弟達にも同様であった. やが

て, 榕菴はオランダ語を, 元長崎通詞で当時は

幕府の洋書翻訳局の訳官であった語学の天才 ,

「馬場貞由」の元で修業したが, 榕菴もまた語

学の天才であったという1–4) . 玄真が玄随の訳