Timeline for Etymology of 至关(重要)
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 5, 2020 at 5:44 | vote | accept | NS.X. | ||
| Jul 29, 2015 at 20:52 | comment | added | Master Sparkles | It seems that the 至关重要 question really boils down to how/when 关 can/did mean "relevant" to; the other characters seem logical derivatives of this meaning. This meaning comes from 涉 as defined in Kangxi : 又涉也。《后汉·张升传》升少好学，多关览。《注》关，涉也. From which 攸[所]关/关于/other meanings follow, and 至关重要 perhaps evolved naturally at some point. I agree with 杨以轩 that it's really not an idiom. | |
| Jul 29, 2015 at 8:34 | answer | added | wpt | timeline score: 3 | |
| Sep 22, 2014 at 9:38 | comment | added | Michaelyus | There are indications that the phrase is much older than the late 1980s: "Report of the National Peip'ing (Beiping) Library" which is meant to date from 1930 contains the phrase 至關重要. | |
| Sep 20, 2014 at 10:12 | answer | added | Oliver Redman | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 11, 2014 at 14:10 | comment | added | George Chen | Good question. I dont know the answer, but I'd like to get to the bottom of it. | |
| Aug 29, 2014 at 17:19 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackChinese/status/505404276144078848 | ||
| Aug 28, 2014 at 2:37 | comment | added | 杨以轩 | 至关重要 is not considered an idiom (chengyu) but a phrase consisting of separate words. So I guess you won't be able to find an etymology for it. I can find half a million Google results for 至关作用 and 至关因素. Maybe it is not that rare. | |
| Aug 27, 2014 at 4:09 | comment | added | NS.X. | @QuestionOverflow 至关生死 is a good catch. 至关重大 is a close variation of 至关重要 but much less common. The other ones are actually very rare, at least in Google results. | |
| Aug 27, 2014 at 1:45 | comment | added | 杨以轩 | Also 至关生死, 至关重大, 至关作用, 至关危急, 至关你我, 至关步骤, 至关因素. | |
| Aug 27, 2014 at 1:36 | history | edited | NS.X. | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 24 characters in body
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| Aug 27, 2014 at 1:26 | comment | added | congusbongus | Try searching for "至关要紧"; there are some results for it too. | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 23:11 | comment | added | Xiaoge Su | Have you tried 词源? | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 20:29 | comment | added | NS.X. | @倪阔乐 Agreed. The point of my question though, is not whether 至关 is a word or not, but where did this specific combination (至+关+重要) come from and how it became popular, and why all other possible combinations/variations (至关+other adjective, 最关重要, 至决重要, etc.) are so uncommon. | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 19:00 | comment | added | user4452 | I don't think 至关 is a word per se. 至 is here synonymous with 最. The expression would then be a compact form for 最关键地重要, or of utmost importance. | |
| Aug 26, 2014 at 18:21 | history | asked | NS.X. | CC BY-SA 3.0 |