摘要
'软玉'这个术语近来饱受非议,非议不仅来自考古文博界,也来自宝玉石界。作为一个术语,'软玉'为何会受到如此广泛的非议呢?考古文博界的主体认识为:自古至清末文献中没有用过此术语,且该玉料质地并不软。事实上,以透闪石阳起石为主要组成的玉料硬度已经超过玻璃和铁器,实际佩戴无磨损痕迹。为何被称呼'软'玉?中国有爱玉、尚玉的传统,且玉文化是中国文化中的重要组成部分,理清这一术语的由来,意义重大。通过广泛收集全球相关文献开展分析与研究,发现'软玉'一词最早于1890年出现在日本的一本德语、英语和日语的矿物互译名的书册中。日本作者(Koto)用'軟玉'来翻译英文词'Nephrite'。'nephrite'这个英文单词在西方出现时间大致可以锁定在16世纪或者之后,并于1846年用来描述我国上古玉器的主要矿物组成,这距我国广泛用透闪石质玉的时间晚了好几千年。'软玉'术语经留日学者引入中国,之后经过矿物学相关图书传播,于1996年被收入《珠宝玉石·鉴定》国家标准中。通过对'软玉'术语命名溯源,不难发现中华玉文化的重要载体——玉,在我国饱受战乱、贫穷与落后时期,于1890年被使用同宗语系的日本学者强加了一个'軟(软)'字,之后这个'软'字便牢牢地附着。通过溯本求源,认为该术语的'软'字应该去除,这样既回避了'软玉'的最早命名可能存在的褒贬问题,也避免了一些顾名思义、不合实际的想当然的现象再度发生。今后关于透闪石质玉的术语称谓,我们推荐的术语为'玉'。这一称谓既尊重我国历史传统又兼顾现实;虽然我国用玉早期用玉种类不算单一,但到西周时期基本演变为单一的闪石质玉。最后提倡反思,我们文化自觉、自信、自爱、自珍的培养与建设是否依然任重道远?
The term'RuanYu'(written as软(軟)玉in Chinese)has a literary meaning of'soft jade',which is equivalent to nephrite in some literature.The term has become highly controversial recently.Arguments against it came from Chinese archaeologists and gemologists.Archaeologists argue that'RuanYu'has never been used in China at least until the end of the Qing Dynasty;in addition,the gemstone is not soft at all.Gemologists further point out that the hardness of Chinese jade material,mainly composed of tremoliteactinolite,exceeds those of glass and iron,with no wearing scratch on its surface after long term use.Then why Chinese jade is called'RuanYu'?Since jade has been traditionally loved and well respected in China,and jade culture is an important component of the Chinese culture,we believe that it is of great significance that we should clarify this controversy by finding the origin of this term.In this study,we summarized the history of the term'RuanYu'by extensive researching of relevant references around the world.Our study shows that the word'Yu(玉)'has been used to describe the jade material in China since ancient times.The term'RuanYu',on the other hand,first appeared in the book titled'The Mineral Names:English,German and Japanese',published in 1890 in Japan,by Koto where he translated the English word'Nephrite'to'軟玉(Yuan Yu)'for the first time.Previously since 1846,however,'nephrite'(appeared roughly in the 16 th century or later in the West)had been used to describe the main mineral of ancient jade from China.In 1921,The term'RuanYu'was first introduced to China by Chinese scholars studying in Japan,and later appeared in many mineral-related books in Chinese.In 1996,the term was listed as a Chinese gemstone name in the Gems-Testing National Standard,and continues its use till now.From this summarized history,one can see that in 1890,when China was suffering from war,poverty and backwardness,and looted jade artifacts were brought out of China in large quantity,a modifier'軟(Ruan-soft)'was added to玉(Yu-the traditional Chinese name for jade)by a Japanese author to ascribe to'nephrite'.We consider the adaptation of the term'RuanYu',which is not of Chinese origin and was not used traditionally by Chinese people,inappropriate.We recommend that the traditional Chinese name'玉(Yu)'be used for tremolite jade to avoid problems the term'RuanYu'may imply.Although the jade used in the early period of China had various types,however,tremolite jade has been dominant since the Western Zhou Dynasty.By restoring the name'Yu'to describe Chinese jade,we restore the name consistent with Chinese history and cultural tradition.
作者
施光海
张小冲
徐琳
李新岭
SHI Guanghai;ZHANG Xiaochong;XU Lin;LI Xinling(State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources,China University of Geosciences,Beijing 100083,China;The Palace Museum,Beijing 100009,China;Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Institute,Urümqi 830004,China)
出处
《地学前缘》
EI
CAS
CSCD
北大核心
2019年第3期163-170,共8页
Earth Science Frontiers
基金
国家自然科学基金项目(41373055)
关键词
软玉
玉
透闪石阳起石质玉
和田玉
起源
nephrite
Yu-jade
tremolite-actinolite jade
Hetian jade
origin
