“谷”字探源——兼释“谷”之相关字

Study on the Origin of the Character“Que”with Reference to Some Other Related Characters

"■""希"本是由描摹布线交织的象形字所衍生的分化字,"■"表示粗葛之义,"希"则表示细葛之义。二字古音亦近,安大简"络"之异文作"■"可以为证。之后二字又赘加"纟"旁产生后起字"■""絺"。但因"■"在文字发展进程中或写作"■"形,或讹作"去"形,或讹作"谷"形,增加了辨识的困难。据此,《玺汇》2602"絺"用如姓氏,读为"郤"。另外,九店简"■"应分析为从"色""■"声,疑"■"之异体,简文"绤表",指粗葛布做的外衣。

The characters ＂que＂ （谷） and ＂xi＂ （希） used to be two variants originated from the same character describing the process of spinning and weaving kudzu fiber, with ＂que＂ denoting coarse hemp and ＂xi＂ denoting fine hemp. Based on the variants of these characters in the Collections of Bamboo Strips in Anhui University, they shared similar ancient phonetic forms. The subsequent emergence of ＂ xi＂（绤） and ＂chi＂ （絺） was the resuh of addition of the radical ＂mi＂ （ 纟 ）. In the development of the word, the character que assumed complex relations with several other characters, such as ＂gone＂ and ＂valley＂, and became a versatile character that is hard to identify. According to the previous study of ancient seals, the character ＂chi＂ was used as a substitute of ＂xi＂ , and read as ＂xi＂ （郤） , a family name. Additionally, the character ＂se＂ （ ） in Jiudian Bamboo Slips should be annotated as having the semantic indicator ＂color＂ and the phonetic indicator ＂que＂. Therefore, this character can very possibly be a variant of ＂xi＂ （郤）. The expression ＂xi biao＂ （绤表） can also be annotated as ＂clothes made of coarse hemp＂.