武俠，wuxia

最近注意到一部新的華語電影《武俠》，由陳可辛執導，甄子丹、金城武、湯唯主演，此刻正在法國坎城參加影展。

我對電影沒啥研究，就是一個普通的觀眾。當初李安的《臥虎藏龍》(2000) 讓我看得感動掉淚，不是因為裡面的兒女情長，而是武俠片在他手裡竟可以如此唯美無瑕！後來的跟風好似東施效顰，讓人一次比一次失望。

這次我關注的不是電影的內容卡司，而是《武俠》的英文片名 Wu Xia。製作團隊很有勇氣，直接採用了漢語拼音來翻譯 "武俠"。事實上，Wuxia 在 2005 年首度進入英語詞典，廁身《新牛津美語詞典》(The New Oxford American Dictionary) 第二版。然而 2007 年的《牛津英語詞典簡編》(Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) 第六版、2009 年的《牛津英語詞典》(The Oxford English Dictionary) 光碟版均未見收錄，直到 2010 年才又為《英語牛津詞典》(Oxford Dictionary of English) 第三版所收，第一個字母改為小寫，定義略有增修。詳情請見〈"武俠" 的英文就是 wuxia〉。

差不多在同一時間，最大最權威的《牛津英語詞典》(The Oxford English Dictionary) 也在它的線上版收錄了 wuxia。至此，wuxia 作為一個英語詞彙的地位益加穩固。電影《武俠》的譯名，或許可當成將 wuxia 推向世界的巨大助力吧？

wuxia, n.

Pronunciation: Brit. /wuː 'ʃɑː/ , U.S. /wu 'ʃɑ/
Inflections: Plural unchanged.
Forms: 19– wuhsia, 19– wuxia. Also with capital initial.
Etymology: < Chinese wŭxiá (Wade-Giles transcription wu-hsia) genre of Chinese historical fiction (including opera and film) < wŭ military, martial (see WUSHU n.) + xiá, skilled and chivalrous wandering martial artist (now only in compounds).

An itinerant swordsman or warrior of ancient China. Freq. attrib., esp. designating a genre of Chinese historical fiction or martial arts films featuring such warriors, who are often depicted as capable of superhuman feats. Hence also simply: this genre of fiction or film.

1963 V. Chu Ta ta, tan Tan i. 7 One of the most popular types of Chinese fiction is the wu hsia stories, in which valiant heroes, often outlaws expert in shadowboxing, help the poor and weak and punish the bullies and powerful.
1981 Amer. Jrnl. Legal Hist. 25 276 In early China, the 'avenger' might have been..what might be called a transferred principal—a friend, hireling, or sometime specialist in the prosecution of revenge (a wuxia).
1998 R. E. Hegel Reading Illustr. Fiction in Late Imperial China ii. 48 That trend coalesces with the conversion of these 'military romances' during the late Qing into wuxia fiction and plays and in the twentieth century into wuxia films.
2000 Internat. Herald-Tribune (Nexis) 11 Oct. 26 The world of the Wuxia—warriors of the Confucian era—is a world apart from society.
2004 Wired Aug. 62/1 Based on the mythical exploits of early swordsmen, wuxia has been a part of Asian cinema since the silent era, but most Westerners got their first taste from Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.