“法”义新论

Reinterpretation of Fa(法)

"法"在字源和词源上有三个系统,即灋、佱、。许慎在《说文》中仅以战国篆文为据,未能考察商至战国前期文字发展的理路,对"灋"的词源解释有误。廌与作为神兽的獬豸有差异,并无掌法神兽之义。灋字在西周时代作为"废"的本字使用,与后世的"法"义并无关联。宗周文化系统中有一个表规范、法则意义的"佱"字;南方文化中有一个表达规范、法则、效法甚至法律的"",因此在先秦时代有宗周的"佱"和南方的""两个与后世"法"有渊源关系的概念系统。这两个系统在春秋中叶至战国时代发生碰撞、融合,最终以""吸纳并取代"佱",并写作"灋"为终结。具有"刑罚"、"审判"之义的"法",通过"灋"的字源和词源无法解释,而当与宗周文化系统之外的南方文化中的系统有关。

From the perspective of origin of Chinese characters and etymology,one can see that the character fa（法） may originate from fa（灋）,fa（佱） or zhi（廌）.In the ＂Interpretation of Words,＂ Xu Shen＇s construction of fa（灋）,merely based on seal scripts in the Warring States period,proved to be incorrect.Different from xiezhi（獬豸）,zhi（廌） does not indicate the sacred animal having power to enforce law.In the Western Zhou Dynasty,fa（灋） was only used as the word fei（abolishment） and had nothing to do with fa（法）.In the Zongzhou culture the character fa（佱） was employed to mean norm or rule while in.the Southern culture fa（灋） meant norm,rule,compliance with law or even law.Thus in the Pre-Qin era,there were two concepts,i.e.,fa（佱） in the Zongzhou culture and fa（灋） in the southern culture having some thing to do in meanings with fa（法）.The two concepts,from the mid Spring-Autumn Period to the Warring States Period,collided and fused with each other and ultimately as the consequence fa（佱） was replaced by fa（灋）.Now we can see only by reference of origin of characters and etymology one can never explicitly explain the origin of fa（法） that bears the modern meanings of penalty and trial,the clues of which must be found from the southern culture outside the Zongzhou culture.