湖南龙山县土家语地名考释——以他砂乡为考察中心

Analyses and Interpretations of Toponyms of Tujia language in Longshan County: A Study Focusing on Tasha Township

土家语是他砂土家族人在日常生活和社会活动中进行交流的主要工具,因此在他砂乡产生了大量的土家语地名。这些地名承载着土家族丰富的文化内涵。但由于土家族没有文字,只能通过汉语记音的方式来记录土家语地名,导致许多土家语地名出现误记或误释。作者在他砂乡土家语言调查的基础上,收集土家语地名约150个,选择其具有代表性的47个土家语地名,运用语言学和地名学的方法,从地貌特征、居住环境、农耕文化、民族活动四个方面,对他砂乡土家语地名进行考释,并简要论述这些土家语地名的来源及其文化意义。通过对他砂乡土家语地名的考释,辩证其误解,以更好地把握土家语地名的本质特征。

Tasha is a Tujia village in the southeast mountainous area of Longshan County in Hunan Province. Its villagers mainly use Tujia Language in their everyday life and social activity. As a result, a lot of toponyms of Tjujia Language are kept here and they embody rich cultural implication of Tujia People. Unfortunately, people have to use Chinese character to transcribe toponyms of Tujia in the absence of Tujia character, which results in the mis-transcriptions and mis-interpretations. This paper chooses 47 examples from 150 toponyms collected in Tujia Language and, by way of linguistics and toponymy, makes interpretations from landscape, living environment, farming agriculture and ethnic activities and discusses their origins and cultural meaning. This study can improve an understanding of the nature of toponyms of Tujia Language.