也说“柔”字——兼论泥母与明母在上古的交替

A Further Discussion on the character Rou(柔): The Alternation of Consonant of ni and ri in Archaic Chinese

《说文》认为"柔"从矛声。但是,有学者认为柔、矛声母不类,《说文》将其分析为形声字不确。但是,出土文献中矛与柔相通、异文的例子可以证明《说文》的分析不误。通过对出土文献和传世文献中泥母与明母相通、异文、谐声、异读等材料的研究,可以看出泥母与明母在上古的交替可能与三等介音或高元音韵部有关。

Shuowen Jiezi（说文解字） said that Rou（柔） was a pictophonetic character. But some researcher thought Rou（柔） and Mao（矛） are different in their initials. However, evidence from excavations and other ancient books suggests that Rou（柔） and Mao（矛）＇s pronunciations are similar. With the research of the characters alternation in Ni initial（泥母） and Ming initial（明母）, We think that the reason maybe is relation of the division Ⅲ medial or high vowel.