“楚辞”的初义和能指

The original meaning and connotations of "The Songs of Chu

“楚辞”一词出现在汉武帝之时，其初义与发生在战国后期屈原、宋玉等人的文学创作无关。其初义所指有二：一是指朱买臣和庄助写作的辞赋；二是指他们用楚国方言诵读所写的辞赋，以此来干谒君主。楚辞的能指包含三个方面：一是指流传在楚地的民歌；二是指楚地流传的道家作品，其中包括流行于战国时期的黄老学说等；三是战国后期屈宋等人的文学创作。

The term 'The Songs of Chu' first emerged in the reign of Emperor Han Wu during the Han Dynasty. It's original meaning was in no connection with the literatry writing of poets such as on Yuan and Song Yu in the latter period of Warring States. Instead, it referred to: (1)the poems written by Zhu Maichen and Zhuang Zhu; (2) their recitation of their own poems in dialects of Chu when they called on kings. The connotations of the Songs of Chu include three aspects: (1)folk songs popular in the place of Chu;(2) works of Taoism popular in the place of Chu,including theories of Emperor Huang Di and Laotsi in the period of Warring States; (3) literatry writing of poets such as QU Yuan and hong YU in the latter period of Warring States.