上古漢語"休"的詞義發展

A Study on the Meaning Developing Process of the Archaic Chinese Character"Xiu"

"休"字殷墟甲骨文已見,裘錫圭先生認爲"休"的本意應該是人在樹蔭下休息,由本義分别引申出了單純的休息之義,以及樹蔭和尊者蔭庇卑者等意義;休息之義又引申出了休假、休止、休要等義.本文進一步認爲"休"屬於"一字二義",即一個字形蘊含了兩個意思,一個是"人在樹蔭下休息",由此引申出(一般的)休息、休止/停止、棄除、辭去、莫/不要等義;一個是"(樹蔭)遮蔽",由此引申出(一般的)庇蔭、福佑、賜予、美好、喜悦、吉慶等義.傳世上古漢語文獻中"休"主要有"休息""休止""美好""福佑""喜悦"五個義項,其中"休息"和"休止"是主要用法;兩周金文中"休"有名詞、形容詞、動詞三種詞性,其中名詞(美意、恩惠義)最多見,其次是形容詞(美好義),再次是動詞(賜予義).將傳世文獻與兩周金文結合起來,可以很好地厘清上古漢語階段"休"的詞義發展過程.

The character"Xiu"has been found in the oracle bone inscriptions of Yin Ruins.Mr.Qiu Xigui thinks that the original meaning of"Xiu"should be that people rest under the shade of trees,which respectively extends the meaning of rest,as well as the meaning of shade of trees and the meaning of shade of venerable people;the meaning of rest also extends the meaning of vacation,stop and being not allowed to.In this paper the author further believes that"Xiu"has two meanings,that is,one character pattern contains two meanings,one is"people rest under the shade",which leads to(in general)rest,cease/stop,abandon,quit,be not allowed to/don’t,etc.;the other is"shade/shelter",which leads to(in general)shade,blessing,bestow,beauty,joy,happiness,etc.In the archaic Chinese literature,there are five meanings of"Xiu",they are"rest","stop","beauty","blessing"and"joy",among which"rest"and"stop"are the main usages;in the inscriptions on Bronze of Zhou dynasty,"Xiu"has three parts of speech:noun,adjective and verb,among which the most common nouns(beauty and blessing)are followed by adjectives(beautiful),and then verbs(bestow).Combining the handed down documents with the inscriptions on Bronze of Zhou dynasty,we can make clear the meaning developing process of"Xiu"in archaic Chinese.