Tracing the Origin of the Prepositional Construction chu (除) in Chinese: A Sanskrit–Chinese Comparative Study

Focusing on a pivotal yet underexplored syntactic phenomenon, this study demonstrates that the prepositional construction chu (除), essential for marking exception and inclusion, not only finds its earliest documented origins exclusively within translated Buddhist scriptures of the Eastern Han-Sui period, but also reveals within them a tripartite system of grammatical meanings: (1) an exclusive usage, highlighting element B in contrast to A; (2) an additive usage, supplementing A with B; and (3) a conditional–exceptive usage, expressing “only if A, then B”. To account for this novel system, this study employs a contrastive analysis of parallel texts, meticulously comparing the Chinese translations with their Sanskrit originals. The analysis reveals that chu (除) served as a systematic calque, corresponding to a defined set of Sanskrit morphosyntactic forms: the absolute participles (sthāpayitvā, sthāpetv, vinirmucya) and the past passive participle virahita (all conveying exception); the adverb api (expressing inclusion); and the indeclinable anyatra (meaning “except”). Integrating evidence from historical Chinese corpora with Sino-Sanskrit comparative data, this study establishes that the tripartite semantic system of the prepositional construction chu (除) constitutes a syntactic calque on Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, rather than an endogenous development. This finding provides a robust case of contact-induced grammatical replication, thereby illuminating the profound and specific impact of Sanskrit-to-Chinese translation on the trajectory of Chinese syntactic history.