重新思考“寿”字来源与字形结构

Rethinking the Origin and Structure of “Shou”

在目前所见的青铜铭文上,"寿"字的出现率甚高,共见六百余次,其字形的异体均有五种。从这五种的字形年代不同,或许可以表达"寿"的形成脉络。本文从两周金文和战国简文搜集一切"寿"字的字形,重新探讨该字的结构与形成的历史。本文认为,"寿"字是殷周之际从"神"字衍生的字体,以表达天神所能赐予的寿命。商文明的信仰传统,乃是通过神兽吞吐神杀的方式,以期获得天上的神性之新生,即通过神杀手段避开自然生物必经的死亡过程,进而得到由神所产生的永生。早期社会观念中,老死病死者将变得永远脆弱无力,身强力壮时期被杀者,反而能在永生中保留身强力壮,所以"寿"并不被视为理想美德。但是从殷周交接之际出现"寿"字可知,当时社会已不再怕老弱,反而把"老"视为被神保祐的依据。古代思想传统中将老年视为德性的观念,实滥觞于此。

The character ＂shou＂ [寿] is found more than 600 times in inscriptions on existing bronze vessels and has five orthographic variants depending on period. Based on written forms of ＂shou＂ from Zhou bronze inscriptions and Warring State period bamboo slips, this article traces the history of developmentof the character and strives to understand its original meaning and the principle of formation. ＂Shou＂ derived from the character ＂shen＂ [神] in the end of the Shang dynasty and the early Zhou dynasty, meaning a prayer to heavenly spirits to send down longevity. The Shang tradition held thateternal life can only be achieved through sacred murder and rebirth. Longevity was notconsidered a grace and death atold age or disease was considered to be bad. However, the appearance of the character ＂shou＂ demonstrates thatin the end of the Shang and in the early Zhou the public worldview already considered longevity as an indication of being protected by heavenly spirits. This belief became the source of reverence for the longevity in Chinese tradition.