摘要
周代金文中的“肇”字，汉人作实词解释，定义为“始”或“敏”，但何以如此，语焉不详。近人杨树达氏则认为置于语首者为发声虚词。实则，“聿”与“始”义接近，由引申而有“始”义，两个义待会合，造成“肇”字，用以表示语言中始的意义。此字不见于殷虚甲骨刻辞，有可能是西周初期新生的字，有当时许多器铭为证。总之，“肇”字在金文中有其实义，并非语首虚词。了解其确切用法，有助于读懂许多具有重要社会史料性质的周金文。
The Chinese character 'zhao' inscribed on the bronze wares during the Western Zhou period, was interpreted by the Han scholars as a notional word, meaning beginning. They were not clear,however,that how it came about. A modern Chinese scholar,Yang Shuda,regarded it as a form word for pronunciation when it was placed at the head of a sentence. The present essay intends to show that the meaning of both parts forming the character, and ,is close to that of beginning as the Han scholars believed. So it functions as a notional word rather than a form one only for pronunciation. It did not appear until the early stage of the Western Zhou,for it is found among the inscriptions on the early Western Zhou's bronze wares,but not found among those on the oracle bones and tortoise shells belonging to the Shang period.
出处
《北京师范大学学报（社会科学版）》
CSSCI
北大核心
2000年第2期18-25,共8页
Journal of Beijing Normal University(Social Sciences)
关键词
西周
金文
"肇"
字义考释
zhao
Western Zhou
bronze-ware inscriptions
meaning
