最近看国外网站对《流浪地球》的评论，发现一个有趣的英语词；taikonaut。这是拼音‘taikong’ 和英语词根‘naut’ 拼接成的中西合璧的单词。意思是‘中国宇航员’。是马来西亚华人赵里昱创造的一个英文新词。（https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/taikonaut）“-naut” 这个词根源于希腊语“nautēs” ("sailor").
赵里昱创造“taikonaut”是缘起1998年中国组建航天员大队。英文单词“astronaut”目前普遍用于泛指“宇航员”，但是在六十年代太空竞赛时代，“astronaut”用于美国培训的宇航员，而“cosmonaut”专指苏联/俄国培训的宇航员。
Astronaut - astro (star) + naut (sailor)
Cosmonaut - cosmos (universe) + naut (sailor)
Taikonaut – taikong(outer space) + naut (sailor)
关于这个新词， 各方看法不一。看到一个美国语言学者的博客，他认为”taikonaut “带着满满的中国风，很愚蠢（stupid）。原文如下：
“Sometimes the word 'taikonaut' will be seen in news articles about PRC astronauts. This cuto-chinoiserie is really stupid. The premise seems to be that since Russian astronauts are called cosmonauts,PRC astronauts ought to have a special name too.”http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4034
博客评论中有人同意他的观点，认为“astronaut”足以代表所有宇航员。”astronaut”和”sailor”， “pilot” 一样只是职业的名称。不应该有国家的区别。
“Even if "taikonaut" were "coined by the culture itself", it would be a step in the wrong direction to bring it into English. Instead we should abandon the cold war term "cosmonaut" and use "astronaut" for everyone. It's silly to invent a new word every time a new country launches someone into space. We don't have special terms to replace, say, "sailor" or "pilot" depending on what country the person is from.”
但也有评论指出美苏航空业各有自己的传统和历史，所以有资格保留各自的名称。
“Cosmonauts and astronauts have two very different histories, and both traditions are equally strong and valid. So it's not surprising that both names should be kept up. Indeed, it would be an insult to both sets of dead to mash them up too indiscriminately.”
另外在“Quora”网站上，也有人提出类似的问题，如“astronaut”和“cosmonaut”的区别。
What's the difference between an astronaut and a cosmonaut?
https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-an-astronaut-and-a-cosmonaut-2
有回答说明“astronaut”和“cosmonaut”不只是名称，还是头衔(title)。不是所有进入太空的人员都可以被成为宇航员。比如美国对于太空船工作人员就有“Pilot Astronauts”,“Mission Specialist Astronauts”,“Payload Specialist”等技术头衔。同理，“cosmonaut”也是苏联宇航员的技术头衔。苏联在太空探索上做出卓越的贡献，如首次将人类送入太空等。让苏联人/俄国人放弃“cosmonaut”,使用“astronaut”是对其历史贡献的不尊重。
“But ultimately, the separation between the two terms is one of respect. The Russians have a long history of human spaceflight. They put the first human into space and hold the records for longest time in space for an individual, both mission and career cumulative. They also hold the record for a person with the most number of spacewalks. Every cosmonaut that is awarded the title of cosmonaut is taking on a mantle once worn by Yuri Gagarin. Asking them to give up that title just for conformity would be callous and disrespectful.”
“During the 1980s, NASA maintained three titles for people that flew on the Space Shuttle: Pilot Astronauts, Mission Specialist Astronauts, and Payload Specialists. The Payload Specialists did not undergo full astronaut training and thus did not achieve the title of Astronaut.
Astronaut and cosmonaut are job titles and achievements.”
另外有回答提出其他国家对于宇航员也有自己的专有名称，如法国的宇航员是“Spationaut”，而印度的宇航员是“Vyomanauts“。但都仅限于自己国家使用，没有进入大众媒体。
现在中国开启了自己独立的太空探索旅程，中国也应该有能力和信心建立自己的宇航传统和命名规则。那么到底是用应用广泛的“Astronaut”， 还是中西合璧的“Taikonaut” ？甚至是否索性就用普通话拼音的”Yuhangyuan”呢？
