“棒”是现代汉语的一个常用字,也是一个高频词。对表示肯定赞美之义的“棒”的来源问题有些学者作出了不同推测,但都不符合语言事实。“棒”从古到今意义发生了一系列变化,有着不同的历史层次,反映出一个词历时演变的某些规律。用“棒”意义演变的实际情况来比照学者们对“棒”来源的争议,可以看出词源研究应注意的一些原则问题。 “Stick ” is a commonly used word in modern Chinese, but also a high frequency words. Some scholars have made different speculations about the source of affirmative praise, but none of them conforms to the language. “Great ” has undergone a series of changes in meaning since ancient times, with different historical levels, which reflect some laws of the diachronic evolution of a word. By contrasting the scholars’ controversy over the source of “stick” with the evolution of the meaning of “stick”, we can see some principle issues that etymological research should pay attention to.