说字符“艸”、“木”的分化

The Differentiation about the Character Components Cao(艸) and Mu(木)

《说文》系统里字符"艸"与"木"一般不通用,在表义功能上,字符"艸"偶尔可以表示与木相关的意义,但字符"木"从不表示与草类植物相关的意思。二者的区别是明显的。然甲骨文里,从"屮/艸"与从"木/林"表义无别。这说明字符"艸"与"木"的区别是后来形成的,这种字符表义功能的区分,可以间接反映人们认识客观世界的过程,即初民对于植物应无草本与木本之别,随着认识的深入,才将植物分为草本与木本。

The character components Cao（艸） and Mu（木） in the Shuowen（说文） could generally not be interchangeable. The component Cao（艸） occasionally can be expressed the concepts about three. However, the component Mu（木） couldn＇t be expressed the concepts about grass. There are no differences between the functions of meaning about the components Cao（艸） and Mu（木） in the oracle system. It shows that the difference of functions between the character components Cao（艸） and Mu（木） has later formed. The difference of functions between the two components could indirectly reflect the process about peoples＇ understanding of the world. In the past there are no herbaceous and woody plants for the plants in the cognition of ancients. With the deepening of cognition, the plants have been classified into herbaceous and woody species.